


The Stark home for genius teenagers

by bluecalicocat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Asexual Clint Barton, Bisexual Peter Parker, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Deaf Clint Barton, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gay Bucky Barnes, Gen, Harley Keener is a little shit, Harley Keener is responsible, Irondad, LGBTQ Themes, Loki isn't evil, Meme Lord Shuri (Marvel), Pansexual Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker centric, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, big sibling Harley Keener, everything's on fire, little sibling Shuri, meme humor, middle child Peter Parker, spiderson, tony's science children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2019-08-17 13:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 43,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16517513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecalicocat/pseuds/bluecalicocat
Summary: Peter Parker, Harley Keener and Shuri met once and decided that they were gonna be siblings. It's now summer, and they're spending it together at the Avengers Tower.OR how Tony Stark discovered that housing three chaotic teens with no self-preservation skills under the same roof was a doomed decision from the start.





	1. In which three teens equal thrice the trouble

**Author's Note:**

> i really don't know what this is, but i hope you enjoy?? it's basically all humor but treated very seriously. the first chapter isn't the best, just so you know

There are not many things going on in Tony Stark's life that he can say he's undoubtedly and unapologetically proud of. 

For one, the Accords are a mess. They have been for quite a while. Even with the amends he's currently trying to make, or the fact that Clint Barton and Scott Lang are both cleared from their house arrests, the rogues are not very close to coming home. Tony is making progress, but it's slow and unrewarding, and actually extremely tiring. A lot of times, he’ll sit with the important papers until his eyes physically can not stay open any longer. 

His attempts at contacting Steve Rogers are failing miserably. Sure, it might only have been one phonecall that he ended after two signals, but still. Failing miserably. 

And with all these political messes, it leaves Tony Stark with even less time for his company or the technical advancements he's trying to make time for. Not that the company is in crisis. He simply feels like a long time has passed since he personally worked on a new project or upgrade for.. something. Anything, really. He's been away from the tools for quite some time. 

Nowadays, it seems every second of every day is devoted to politics. Today though, that's changing. In an hour, two planes are set to land on the landing pad of Avengers Tower. He remembers selling the Tower once. He also remembers buying it back before they went through with that, realizing that a more central base in New York might be important to have. In only thirty minutes, one Peter Parker should be swinging in through the window of his living room. Or, if Tony gets lucky (which he rarely is), the teenager might come through the door like a normal person, but he seriously doubts that.  
Anyway. The two planes are landing, and he will finally get to reunite with his three kids. Not that they know how he refers to them as such. It's only in his head that he calls them 'his kids', but he's pretty sure they've called him "dad" behind his back one or two times. 

The whole thing started two months back. Well, technically, he met Harley Keener a good amount of years before that, but still. Their trio (secretly dubbed the IronKids.. not that Tony knows that) united for the first time two months ago.  
Peter was spending spring break at the Tower, and so was Harley. The two boys had met multiple times before that, as Harley often came over for breaks or weekends, and they had instantly taken a liking to each other. They slowly developed an almost sibling-like bond, being only a year apart in age. 

At the same time as they were both here for spring break, King T'Challa of Wakanda was coming to New York to go over an exchange of vibranium in return for political safety regarding the Accords. Tony didn't even understand the whole context for the King's wish, but was happy to start business with what's probably the most advanced country in the world. The teens kept out of the way of the King himself, but couldn't avoid the Princess he had brought with him. She went on a tour of her own while Tony was showing T'Challa around, somehow ending up designing robots in the lab while Harley contributed with programming and Peter sat on the ceiling, tinkering with his web shooters. Obviously, Shuri already had a brother, but her relationship with those two was not at all very different. Maybe a little, because the three of them were closer in age, and maybe that's also one of the reasons why they got so close, so quickly. 

When Tony and T'Challa found them a few hours later, they were interacting with a new robot they had named Jared. From the moment Jared started setting things on fire (that little pyromaniac), Tony knew he was doomed. 

Shuri stayed the whole break at the Tower with Peter and Harley, even after T'Challa went home. It was only with Pepper's help that Tony managed to deal with those teens and all the trouble they caused. Seriously. He thought older kids were supposed to be more responsible than this. 

After that, the three 'IronKids' kept in touch. Tony also stayed in touch with each of them, but not at the same time, because he would not be able to handle all of them again, not even if it's only in a groupchat. He'd be outnumbered. 

Nonetheless, when Peter came into the Tower one day and asked if his "sibs", as he called them, could stay at the Tower, Tony was hesitant. He obviously liked and even adored each kid individually, but all at the same time... The three of them equaled total chaos. To be considered geniuses, they lacked common sense. 

Or, Tony thought it was more accurate to say that they didn't lack common sense. They simply chose to never act on it. 

He was honestly planning on saying no. Then his mouth opened and an accidental "yes" slipped out, and since then, he's been looking forward to/dreading the arrival of this day. 

From today and until summer break ends, those three teens are going to stay under one roof in a large Tower, with access to advanced tech and gadgets. The amount of trouble Tony can imagine them getting into is rising by the minute.. 

 

«The IronKids» groupchat

FirstBorn  
guys its 1 hr til landng!! 

Dad's favorite  
YES brother! i can't believe its finally summer! 

PutterPerker  
YAY i'm so excited  
I don't think he knows what he's getting himself into 

FirstBorn  
wut do u mean? we r alws behavng  
dad wont evn notce we r ther 

Dad's favorite  
yea sure its not like we tend to accidentally set the lab on fire evry other day 

FirstBorn  
shuri stop lyin we all know fire is bad and we dont do bad thngs 

PutterPerker  
You cant say we 'tend to do it' when we've ony tried to live together one week  
That's not statistics  
We don't 'tend to do it unless we've done it multiple times before  
Which we havent 

Dad's favorite  
uhm peter did u forget those 2 weeknds last month when u an i started fires  
five times  
five times out of four  
that shouldnt evn be possible 

FirstBorn  
u tWo HuNg oUt wiThOuT Me ??? 

PutterPerker  
Wait you two havent hung out without me? 

Dad's favorite  
what??? have u 2 hung out without me??  
harley peter answer me 

PutterPerker  
Chill its been like 3 secnds  
But I've hung out with you both alone  
I thought you two had hung out without me at least once by now 

Dad's favorite  
an where would we have don that? 

FirstBorn  
yea we always see each othr @ the Tower  
so if us 2 hung out it wld be ther n since ur alws ther peter it wouldnt hav ben only me n shuri 

PutterPerker  
Ya but like  
We're the IronKids  
I think u two should hang out w/out me 

Dad's favorite r u srsly tryin to make plans for us,  
as sibs  
when they dont evn include u? 

PutterPerker  
Ya I guess  
Since u wont do it urselves... 

FirstBorn  
...  
u rly are the middle child

 

***

"FRIDAY, when is the plane landing?" Peters asks for what, to Tony, feels like the fifty-seventh time. He is very energetic at the moment, too excited about the arrival of his 'sibs' (Tony has yet to figure out what that means) to hold back on anything. At first, he'd been chatting non stop about what seemed like every single thought that crossed his mind, until his phone made a sound and he disappeared for ten minutes. 

FRIDAY either has the patience of an angel, or simply doesn't mind how many times the boy has asked the same question already. 

"IronChild is landing in approximately two minutes", she replies calmly. 

Peter bounces on his heels where he's standing over by the window, trying to see if any planes are visible in the sky. Tony himself is sitting on the couch, phone in hand, scrolling absent-mindedly through news articles. 

"Have you heard from them today?" he asks the teenager, looking up briefly just to see that Peter's eyes haven't left the sky. 

"Yup. Oh, and Shuri says she's your favorite."

"What can I say, the girl's a genius.."

Peter doesn't realize that Tony has basically confirmed the fact until a few seconds have passed, and he swivels around to look at Tony with raised eyebrows. None of them have any chance to speak again, though, because they're interrupted by FRIDAY. 

"IronChild is now landing", she announces, and Peter is out of the room before Tony has even gotten up from the couch. 

When Tony walks out onto the landing pad about thirty seconds later, Peter is buzzing with energy as he watches Harley's plane land. Stark himself is much better at concealing his excitement, but can't conceal the fond smile that forces itself onto his face upon seeing how the kid is acting. If this happiness is his reward for all the trouble they're sure to cause, he thinks that it might just be worth it. 

As soon as the plane touches ground, Peter is hurrying forward. The door opens, and a boy with sand-colored hair and a huge grin on his face steps out. The younger boy jumps at him half a second later with so much force that Harley has to take a step back to avoid falling on his butt before he can return the hug. 

Tony only barely manages to tone down his brightly shining smile before meeting Harley's eyes. 

"Hey, kid", he greets. "Welcome back."

Harley makes his way down the steps from the plane, Peter close behind, and walks up to Mr. Stark with the same grin as he was wearing before. 

"Hey", Harley says as a way of greeting. He looks like he's about to say something more, before Peter tugs at his sleeve in excitement. 

"That's Shuri's plane!" he says, and the other two turn to look just as the Wakandan jet lowers itself onto the landing pad. 

The strong wind sneaks itself through all their layers of clothing, making all of them shiver slightly before the plane is on the ground and the doors open. 

"Shuri!" both boys shout in a chorus, and they both hurry forward just as the girl is exiting the jet. She laughs and holds her arms out to hug them both. 

Tony will later deny it, but he definitely did not sneak a picture of the three of them, smiling widely and hugging each other. He also definitely did not save said picture to his 'Put it on the fridge'-protocol. 

Nope, definitely did not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soo that happened.. i promise it starts for real in the next part.  
> i have about 12 pre-written chapters that just need editing, so updating will prob be pretty fast now in the beginning. and also i don't know how ao3 works so bear with me


	2. In which mornings aren't for everyone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the teens cause some mild trouble and meet pepper, but it's fine, because they clean up afterwards

It's nine in the morning, the day after the three teenagers arrived at the Tower. Tony Stark has just woken up, and is entering the kitchen while sleepily rubbing at his eyes. 

For some reason, Shuri is sitting on the counter while Harley has his seat on a barstool. They each have a plate of breakfast in front of them and seem to either be arguing heatedly or discussing something with passion. Tony can never tell with these kids. 

He walks straight to the coffeemaker and pours a cup of what's left in it. Then, he leans against the counter opposite Shuri while letting the warm liquid do its job with waking him up. 

About a minute later, Peter comes walking into the kitchen, already dressed for the day, a big smile on his face and with bounce in his steps. Tony raises an eyebrow at the boy. 

"What's got you so happy? Isn't it a little too early to smile?" Tony asks, trying to hide a yawn behind his cup of steaming, black coffee. 

"He petted a dog", Harley guesses, shooting Shuri a stern glance, as if they'd been discussing this before. 

"He petted three dogs", Shuri counters, before they both turn to the other boy in wait for an answer. 

"I petted four dogs!" he says happily, and Shuri pumps a fist in the air while Harley groans. 

The newly arrived boy slides up on a barstool next to Harley's, but makes no attempt to grab any breakfast of his own. Tony watches all of them for a few seconds. Shuri and Harley are back to debating. It's something about Star Wars, he has figured out as much by listening to them. 

"Aren't you gonna eat something?" Tony says, catching Peter's eye. 

"I already ate", he replies, looking way too happy for Tony's liking. "I woke up at six thirty."

Tony looks at him in horror for a moment, an expression Peter can't help but laugh at. Then, the boy turns back to the conversation with the others to make an input on whatever. 

Once again, Tony tunes out and instead retreats back to his workshop, eager to start working on some new upgrade. It's been a while, but it's time again now. 

***

"No, no, no, don't!"

"Shuri, back off, I'm doing it!"

"Peter, no! If you run in without a plan, it could all fall apart!"

Peter sighs and turns around to look at his two sort-of siblings, both wearing expressions of determination. He rolls his eyes at them. 

"Look", Peter says and points behind him. "The yarn is secured at every point where it touches wall, floor or ceiling, so even if I touch it, it won't fall off."

"Yes", Shuri agrees, confident in their creation. "But you can't touch it. It's meant to be laser, so if this was real, you'd burn yourself. It's just not realistic if you go and touch it."

The whole living room of Avengers Tower has at some point during the morning been turned into a labyrinth of yarn. The teens have been discussing how in every spy movie ever, there is always a room where red lasers shot out from the walls and the spies have to utilize their agility to get through without setting off an alarm. The teens' idea to duplicate such a room is by using yarn. 

An hour later, and now red strings are set up from wall to wall through the whole room, making it nearly impossible to cross without touching at least one piece of yarn. 

Shuri and Harley have set up the parts closer to the ground, while Peter climbed around on the walls and secured the yarn up there. They are finished now, but they won't let Peter run in without at least trying to plan out his route. 

"I don't need a plan, I'll just forget it anyways", Peter tries to argue, but Shuri just shakes her head. Harley grins at watching the other boy get scolded by the youngest of the three. 

"Why?" Peter whines. 

"I have a plan", Shuri says. She grins and takes a step forward. "So I guess that means I'm going first. 

***

Tony sets one foot inside the living area before promptly turning around again. 

"Nope", he says. "Not dealing with this shit today."

All three teenagers have managed to cross the room by now, on different times of course, but are now sort of stuck on the other side. 

"Tony!" Harley shouts. The man lets out a sigh, stopping but without turning back to face them. "Come on, you gotta help us out here."

"Why can't you just take down the yarn and clean it up? It seems like you've accomplished your goal, anyway."

Tony has no wish of going in there and participating in whatever they are up to now, but he also knows it's better to let them keep doing this than setting them free in the Tower. Honestly, this is less trouble than he was expecting. So far, no fires or pyromanic robots. Maybe they are just spreading it out over the whole summer. 

But he shouldn't think like that. That will probably just jinx it. 

He lets out another deep sigh before turning around and looking at their hopeful faces, three pairs of eyes fixed on him. None of them have even started to move back through the room yet. 

"Okay", Tony finally relents, and the teens all let out some whoops, glad that he is finally giving in to join them. "Harley, you're dodging under that string right there.. No, that one, to your left... Shuri, go that way.."

When Pepper Potts walks into the room an hour or so later, Tony has just managed to guide them all to safety through the jungle of deadly lasers. The teenagers let out victorious shouts and are high-fiving each other when suddenly, they stop, staring at the doorframe where Pepper is staring right back at them. She quietly raises her eyebrows at the sight in front of her. 

Tony slowly takes a few steps back, simply observing his fiancee's reaction to what the kids have been doing. 

After a few seconds of staring, she shows a very small smile. 

"Make sure it's cleaned up before lunch", is all she says. 

At the sound of her heels disappearing down the hallway, the teens turn to look at Tony. 

"You always make her out as much stricter than that", Peter comments, the first to break the silence that was left behind after the woman's exit. Tony tries to shoot him a reprimanding look, but can't find it in himself. It had actually been pretty funny. 

Of course, the kids have all met Pepper before, but it's always been briefly. She's never been involved too deeply in their shenanigans, so they couldn't have been so sure what her reaction to their spy room/living room would be like. 

"I only have one question", Tony says and the teens all look to him. "Who's doing the cleanup?"

"Not it", Shuri and Harley say in a chorus at the same time as Peter raises a hand. 

"You're volunteering to do it?" Shuri asks with raised eyebrows, and the boy nods with a small smile. "You've officially gone insane."

"He's only doing it so he can cash in a favor later", Harley says, eyeing Peter suspiciously with his arms crossed in front of him. 

"No", the younger teen defends himself. "Because you two are gonna go make pancakes right now."

"Oh", Shuri lights up with realization. "He's cashing in the favor right now."

"Hold on", Tony interrupts. "What are you doing with the leftover yarn?"

The kids look between themselves, wide grins on their faces. 

 

If, potentially and entirely hypothetically, the whole kitchen is a mess of flour and pancake batter later, they definitely didn't have anything to do with it. 

And if, still theoretically speaking, a large ball of yarn is seen rolling down the staircases of Avengers Tower like a snowball down a hill, they definitely weren't the ones to push it down. Why they would ever do that is a mystery to everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the next chapter: peter makes a bad decision, tony babysits, and harley becomes famous


	3. In which Harley becomes the Meme Lord

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> peter's being stupid and the others are only encouraging it. cue tony being Tired and Worried

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do i warn about "bad language"? because there's cursing in this. so this is your warning, i guess.

"When Peter dies, at least we'll know the cause of death", Shuri comments, grinning at what's standing on the table in front of them. 

They're all sitting around the kitchen table for breakfast. After spending the previous evening cleaning up after their cooking, on Tony's orders, they are no longer allowed to cook, which slightly limits their breakfast options. Not because anyone feels like cooking. After yesterday's cleaning, they stayed up all night to watch movies and vine compilations down in the home theatre. It had been really nice but it did make them way too tired to function today. 

Still, Shuri and Harley are having regular breakfasts. They both plan on going back to bed to sleep until lunch, anyway. 

Peter, on the other hand, apparently has no plans of sleeping again until tonight. To make up for the sleep he missed last night, he now has a cup of black coffee and a can of some unnamed energy drink in front of him. 

A second ago, he poured the energy drink into the coffee cup, and at this moment, he's holding it up to drink. 

"Should I really do this?" he says to no one in particular. 

"There's always the medbay in case you need it", Harley ensures him. 

"Listen to this", Shuri says, eyes locked at the phone in her hand. "Symptoms of caffeine poisoning: Dizziness, diarrhea, increased thirst, insomnia, headaches, fever and irritability. See? Now we know what to look for. This is probably really safe, you guys.. The symptoms aren't even that bad."

"No, scroll down", Harley tells her while leaning over her shoulder to get a better view of the screen she's reading from. "Look, there's more."

"Oh", is all Shuri says before she continues reading. "Severe symptoms: Trouble breathing, vomiting, hallucinations, confusion, chest pain, irregular or fast heartbeat, uncontrollable muscle movement, and convulsions.. Sounds fun, guys. Good luck Pete."

Peter shrugs, and then downs his drink in about two seconds. He puts the cup down on the table again and looks at the other two, who are grinning widely. 

"Feeling dead yet?" Harley asks, to which the other teen replies by sticking out his tongue. 

Mr. Stark enters the kitchen with a suspicious frown on his face. 

"Why did FRIDAY wake me up at six in the morning to warn me that Peter was consuming a potentially toxic beverage?" he wonders, sounding too sleep-deprived to even be upset about it. 

Then, the older man stops dead in his tracks and looks over at the table, eyes scanning its contents. His eyes land on the empty coffee cup and can of energy drink. 

"Oh my fucking shit, Parker. Are you trying to get yourself killed, or what?"

Peter is unable to hold back a grin, which only makes Mr. Stark more annoyed/worried/angry. 

"Please tell me you didn't just drink that."

"Nah, he downed it all in one go", Harley corrects, entirely aware that he is only making the situation worse. He definitely doesn't tell them, but when Tony turns to Peter with the most hilarious expression the teen has ever seen from him, Harley has FRIDAY take a picture of it.. To use as a reaction image later, or something. It's always best to be prepared. 

"Peter..." Tony says, an underlying tone of hesitance in his voice. "How are you feeling?"

Peter holds up both his hands to show that his fingers are already trembling. Oh, right.. Enhanced metabolism. The drink probably affects him faster than a normal person. Normally, a cup of coffee will help him chill out more, giving him less energy than without it, as opposed to an average person, that get's more energized after drinking it. Peter will usually feel more focused after consuming the drink, even though he rarely does drink it. He's not sure why it works like that. 

But that's not the case this time. 

"I think I can see sounds", Peter whispers, holding up a shaking hand right in front of his face.

***

While Harley and Shuri go to bed, Tony practically forces Peter to stay with him in the lab, claiming that he needs the teen's help. Everyone knows he's just trying to keep an eye on the possibly poisoned kid. 

The other two wake up again around noon. Harley has just rolled over to reach for his phone on the bedside table, but stops to frown at his lockscreen. Scrolling down, he sees that he has what seems like a million notifications of new followers. His frown grows even deeper. Why would people randomly start following him like that? And in this amount, as well. It's crazy. 

As soon as he goes to Instagram, he understands why. 

"FRIDAY!" Harley exclaims as he sits up hastily. "I told you to take a picture, not take a picture and post it from my account!" 

"It seems you are quite popular online right now, young sir", the AI responds without as much as acknowledging what she has done. 

"Huh", Harley hums. "A lot of followers equal a lot of responsibility. I mean, I could always be the good child everyone knows I am (at this, the AI made a sound as close to snorting as it could get), and simply delete that picture, since Tony doesn't even know I have it.. or pay my duties to my fellow Internet-peeps and post a shitload of Avengers memes."

He shows his accomplishment online to both Peter and Shuri in the living room only a few minutes later. Not that he actually needs to show them. They're both active enough on the internet to have seen it for themselves, already. The post had apparently been popping up on a lot of people's explore pages, as well, and the other teens have seen it there. 

Shuri even has a few ideas on how to proceed with this newfound power, and every single one of those suggestions include that Harley has FRIDAY take pictures of people when they make funny expressions. They can all agree that what will be the most fun is when the pictures are taken from real life but posted without context. 

Although that's by far the funniest idea, they also think that staging some vines or memes would be good, as well. Peter's willing to get his Spiderman suit and recreate vines as Spiderman for Harley to post on his Instagram, which Shuri is quick to join in on. 

"We should recreate those things you did yesterday!" she exclaims, looking between the boys with a glint in her eyes. Peter raises his eyebrows, silently asking her to clarify what events from yesterday she is referring to, while Harley just snickers. "Well, first there was the time around lunch, when you were putting your socks in the laundry and dropped one on the floor, then said 'why has God forsaken me this way'. Then there's the time last night when you fell down the stairs and face-planted on the concrete and said, literally with blood streaming down your face, 'Woah guys, that was wild! But I'm totally fine!'"

Peter, who is sitting on the back of the couch with a water battle in his hand, takes a dramatic swig from it, then wipes his mouth with his sleeve and leans forward over his knees. 

"Listen, guys", he says just as dramatically. "I'm not gonna be Spiderman just to die from not drinking enough water. Also, don't do drugs."

Shuri gives him a quizzical look. 

"Okaay.. that has absolute nothing to do with what I just said, but okay", she replies. 

"I am willing to bet that I'm the only one in here that drinks enough water every day."

"I bet it's the caffeine poising that's starting to kick in", Harley supplies, still grinning. He then turns his face slightly upward. "FRIDAY, please tell me that you recorded what Peter just said and did."

"Yes, I did", the AI responds. 

Peter gives his friend a weird glance, the water bottle still dangling from his hand. 

"Yeah, I said something weird, but can you not post it? It will expose my identity."

"Nah", Harley says, turning around to face his brother. "We'll hide you in plain sight. It definitely sounds like a joke. Besides, you wouldn't be the first person online to claim being Spiderman, nothing sets you apart from the rest."

"Except the fact that, y'know, in my case it's actually true", Peter mutters, but still helps the others prepare FRIDAY's video for becoming a vine.. Well, a vine on Instagram, but whatever. 

Only a short while later, the video is officially posted. 

The filter makes it look darker, and Peter has his face turned to the ground before the dramatic swig from his bottle. When they look at the video later, they see that you can't even make out any identifiable traits of his, so Peter's identity is extra secured, even if someone decides to believe him when he calls himself Spiderman.

The 'unidentifiable guy' in the video, who is sitting on the back of the coach with a water bottle in his hand takes a dramatic swig from it, then wipes his mouth and leans forward over his knees.

"Listen, guys", he says just as dramatically. "I'm not gonna be Spiderman just to die from not drinking enough water. Also, don't do drugs."

 

The video is posted from Harley's account. And so, without ever intending for this to happen, Harley has accidentally become the Meme Lord. His reaction images don't only cover Tony Stark and his many facial expressions, but also has future features of Colonel James Rhodes, Peter in his Spiderman suit, and even some pictures of Shuri when she's especially annoyed with the unreliable tech in this country. 

In short, Harley is now famous on the Internet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> creds to whatever the name of the page was where i learned about caffeine poisoning in five minutes


	4. In which wolves are called chihuahuas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I don't trust things with two heads. They are literally the definition of two-faced!" 
> 
> that's it that's the summary
> 
> oh and there's cussing in this as well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just came to say that all tags on this work will be acknowledged at some point in the story (like asexual clint barton, bi peter parker etc. but this does not focus on romantic relationships so that won't go very deep) 
> 
> and yeah, the teens will meet pretty much every mcu hero there is

Tony has a feeling it is a bad decision when he leaves town, even if will only be for the day. After all, he'll be back before dinner. 

Still, it means the teens will be all alone in the Tower, all by themselves, with no one there to babysit them for today. Everyone seems to be unable to stay there with the young troublemakers, and Tony is the only one who can see the problem with leaving them alone. 

Both Pepper and Rhodey told him to just trust them, said he was overreacting, that the kids are gonna be fine. But, do they have any experience dealing with genius teens with no self-preservation skills? NO! Does Tony have experience dealing with genius teens with no self-preservation skills? YES!

But, does that make Pepper and Rhodey listen to him? Nope. They tried to comfort him. Joke's on them, though. The teens are going to destroy the whole building, and then they will finally realize how wrong they were and how right Tony Stark has been all along. 

Well. He surely doesn't want the kids to end up in too much trouble today, even though he kind of needs them to end up in at least a little bit of trouble just to prove a point. Tony is just praying they won't somehow end up getting hurt.

***

"Harley, do you want some snex?" Shuri asks, using a very nasal voice as she pops her head into the living room where Harley is sitting with his phone. The older boy looks up at her. 

"I'm sorry?" he says, confused. "Some what-now?"

"Snex", Peter chimes in, stepping into view behind Shuri. "We're getting snex. Do you want some?"

"Do you mean snacks?" Harley wonders for clarification. The other two both nod excitedly. 

"Yes! But also no, we're talking about snex. The pronunciation is very important."

"Please, kill me now", Harley groans, tilting his body so that he falls over on the couch where he's sitting. Whatever they want will be worth it, if it means they leave him alone. The word they have come up with is annoyingly catchy. 

"You know what", Shuri says, walking further into the room. "We're willing to make a deal." When Peter raises his eyebrows, she gives him a pointed look. "Yes, we are. If we stop calling it snex, then all three of us are going web slinging."

Harley perks up at this. 

"Oh, yeah!" Peter adds. "I just made a new formula that needs to be tested!" 

"Wait, how is that your deal?" Harley wonders. "I don't have to hear that stupid word anymore, plus I get to go web slinging. That's a win-win for me."

"Don't question it, colonizer", Shuri says with a playfully teasing tone. "Let's just go."

***

Peter fastens his web shooters more properly around his wrists, making sure there will be no more mishaps like the one he had with Shuri about a month ago... It had only ended with a small nosebleed on his part, but that lead to him getting banned from patrolling for a week. 

He nearly shudders at the thought of it, quickly pulling himself back to what is happening here and now. 

The other two teens are standing a few meters behind him, ready to watch, and as they wait, they seem to be deep into an argument. Aren't they always.. Peter listens in for a few seconds before turning around to join in on it. 

"No, I think he modified it since last time", Shuri muses, gesturing at the superhero in front of them. "Not everyone can handle the shooters.. not sure what he did with them, though."

"Better yet; why would he do that?" Harley voices his thoughts. "Who would that serve? Wasn't he saved by someone else who used his shooters once?"

Peter turns around at this and raises his eyebrows. It feels like they're all doing that a lot. Maybe it's the amount of stupid stuff they're saying and doing all the time that's making people raise their eyebrows so much.. Yeah, probably. 

"Are you talking about my web shooters? Because, no, not anybody can shoot them", he informs, and Shuri shoots Harley a grin at this. "Not anymore. I remade them after homecoming my sophomore year. I figured if I dropped or lost them.."

At this, the other two give each other knowing glances, fully aware of how likely it is that the other boy has lost them on at least one occurrence already. 

"But what if someone else was wearing them, but you pressed the button to make the actual shot, and then let the person swing themselves?" Harley wonders. 

"I'm pretty sure you need super-strength to be able to swing, even if I did shoot it out for you", Peter comments. "Otherwise you'd likely pull your arm out of its socket."

Harley widens his eyes at this. Shuri clears her throat, grabbing both of their attention, and gestures to the empty street in front of them. They've gone to a less busy part of the city and headed to a street where there is mostly construction work going on, and nobody walking, to give themselves some privacy. 

"Should we get started, or wait until the whole city is turned upside down because Tony came home and couldn't find us?" Shuri asks, making the others grin. They both know how true it is. 

Peter decides to do a test round first, just to make sure his webbing will be able to hold both his and another person's weight before potentially endangering their lives. 

After swinging back and forth across the street, he lands with a flip next to the other two, who both have taken out their phones to record. He straightens himself out, giving them an amused expression. 

"You know you can't do anything with those videos, right? I'm not wearing my mask. Secret identity, and all that."

After that, Shuri steps forward and orders Peter to do the most dangerous flips he possibly can with her. He hesitantly holds her around the waist, before shooting a simple string of webbing at the building on the opposite side of the not-so broad street, tugging the teen girl along as he swings. 

He is very careful at first, and it is much harder than he had thought it would be to swing with another person. 

After about a minute of this, Shuri literally tears herself away from Peter's grasp just to make him panic for half a second and then dive to save her, while she falls to her death and lets out a 'whoop' of excitement as she nears the ground at a dangerous speed. 

Of course, he gets to her in time. After that, the swinging gets just a little bit more dangerous. 

Still, they both land next to Harley five minutes later, with not as much as a scratch on either of them. 

Harley grins and gives them a thumbs up before ordering Peter to actually be careful this time, and to not let him, quote unquote, "high-five the fucking ground with my fucking face, you punk." 

And so Peter swings away with his older almost-brother. They have a nice time, even though it is considerably less life-threatening than it had been with Shuri. 

But when they return to the ground after a few swings, Shuri is not there waiting for them anymore. The boys let go of each other and look around in different directions, not catching sight of anyone at all. 

Then they hear a weird swooshing sound, making them both turn around just in time to see a golden circle widening behind them, and through it, they can see the inside of some fancy building. And also, two strangely dressed men, one of which is holding his hands out as if controlling the circle-mirror... oh, whatever it is. 

Harley and Peter both take a step back as the two men step out through the golden shape. As soon as their feet touch the concrete, the 'portal' (Peter is going with that until any new information comes up) closes behind them. 

The both men notice the teenagers at the same time, almost immediately after stepping out, but their reactions are wildly different. 

One only half-raises one of his eyebrows, seemingly unbothered by the fact that their strange entrance has an audience. 

The other, taller man, widens his eyes and turns to the shorter one with an angry expression. 

"I thought you said the street would be empty!" he exclaims. 

"At the time, it was", the other man responds calmly. "But now that they're here, I guess me might as well use them." The man turns to the shocked teens, who haven't moved at all during the men's conversation. Oddly enough, Peter's spider sense isn't going off, so he supposes that this far, they're good. 

"I'm Wong", the shorter man continues, then gestures to his... friend? "And this is Doctor Stephen Strange. We're on the lookout for a very deadly, and sort of blue wolf. Oh, and it has two heads."

"I don't trust things with two heads", Harley suddenly says, giving the two men a pointed stare that Peter is sure he must have practiced in front of a mirror. "They are literally the definition of two-faced!"

If Wong and the doctor weren't so very boring, they probably would have laughed. As it is now, they don't. The doctor seems to be pretending he isn't here at all, literally looking at everything except for the teenage boys in front of him. 

"Uh, yeah, sorry about your wolf", Peter speaks up. "But we're kind of looking for our friend? She was here a minute ago."

Finally, Strange turns to the boys. 

"Could it be her that I just spotted petting our wolf in the back of that alley, over there?"

He tilts his head to indicate in which direction he has seen them, and instantly, both Harley and Peter are rushing across the street. They feel absolutely no obligation to stick around and keep talking to the men. 

They should have figured out that they would be followed, though, considering the strangers are looking for the wolf that Shuri is.. petting? It seems like she is. 

The teenagers stop in front of her, looking down at the blue, furry thing in her lap. 

"That's.. a really tiny wolf", Peter comments. 

"Almost looks like a chihuahua", Harley nods his agreement. 

At that time, the two men come walking into the alley, much less rushed than the teenagers in front of them. 

Shuri is grinning at all four of them from her spot on the ground. 

"Miss, do you mind returning that?" the bored doctor asks Shuri. She peers at him, clearly trying to decide what to think. He has a red cloak around his shoulders, making him seem as though he is in some sort of costume, but he still has the same dead-serious facial expression. 

Instead of judging the man with the highly questionable fashion sense, Shuri opts for judging the wolf. 

"I don't think she wants to return", the girl acknowledges, stroking the back of the animal on her knees. 

"And here I was, believing that the young generation knew better than to pick up strange animals with two heads", the doctor sighs, turning away from them in exasperation. Wong, on the other hand, just smiles kindly at them. 

"I don't think that'll be a problem, child", he says. Then, without any further warning, he holds out both his hands and turns them in some weird kind of dance move that ends with another golden circle shooting out from his hands to hit the wolf. 

Shuri gasps and stands up as the animal disappears from her lap, then turns her eyes to the men, suddenly much more interested in them. 

"What was that?" she demands, gesturing at the now empty air, which had just a second ago been occupied by the seemingly not very deadly wolf. "Do you have some tech on you?"

"What? No!" Strange suddenly turns back to the conversation, clearly offended that she would try to explain whatever it is they are able to do by using science. He holds his chin high, but still gazes at them with an unplaceable expression. The teens aren't quite sure what to make of it. 

Peter and Harley stand one on each side of Shuri, joining her in glaring at the men. They are really frickin weird people, with their blue chihuahuas and golden circles, and that's coming from teenagers that build pyromaniac robots as a hobby. 

"Do you have magic?" Harley asks while crossing his arms in front of him. 

Wong smiles yet again, and Doctor Strange huffs at that. 

"Sorcerer Supreme", the doctor mutters under his breath, but it can barely be heard. He then turns to the teens. "I am the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats. Who even are you guys?"

"Oh, so you're like a magic superhero", Harley says, nodding understandingly. The doctor gives him an exasperated look. They have known each other for a few minutes and he is already growing tired of them. 

"I'm Shuri", the girl steps in before he can get too annoyed. "This is Harley, and that's Peter."

The latter waves happily. Strange seems like he is running out of annoyed glances, and simply settles for an unbothered look. 

"I would say it's been a pleasure to meet you", he begins, "but it really hasn't, and I wish to return home immediately."

"Mood", Peter whispers. The sorcerer doesn't even acknowledge this, even though he must have heard it, but Harley snickers and gives the younger boy a discreet high-five. Shuri is trying to hide a smile. 

Now that the blue, two-headed wolf is no longer on the run, the men don't have anymore business here. Wong has already retreated out of the alley onto the wider street and is waiting for Strange to do the same. 

Just as they are about to boom boom whoosh and portal away from here, Shuri and Peter move forward.

"Wait!" Peter shouts. The men stop their movements and wait for him to go on. 

"Can we.. can we meet Tumps again?" Shuri questions. 

Strange sighs heavily and turns around, letting Wong deal with them. 

"I'm sorry, who?" he wonders, not understanding. 

"The wolf", Peter clarifies. "We think it should be called Tumps."

Wong chuckles, and Strange sighs loudly again as if to emphasize his dislike. 

"Kids, we'd give Tumps to you if we thought you could handle it", the smiling man says. "But we can't have you go around spilling our secrets. No offense, but you must understand we can't trust some random teenagers we run into at an abandoned street in this shady part of town."

"Oh, if he only knew.." Peter whispers. 

"We happen to be great at keeping secrets", Harley adds. "And please, we just wanna meet Tumps again."

Now, Doctor Strange finally turns back around. They haven't been paying attention to him for a little while, and notice for the first time that he's wearing some form of amulet, just as he puts it under a robe of his. The kids frown, wondering what that could be. They aren't given much time to think about it, though, as the man starts speaking. 

"I believe opportunity will present itself, if it's meant to", he responds cryptically. 

With that being said, him and Wong create one of their magical portals and disappear. 

The teenagers return home with quizzical expressions and a never-ending conversations about the day's main event. At least Tony had been right about them getting into things they probably shouldn't be allowed to be involved in. 

At the same time, Wong and Strange step out through the portal into the lobby of the Sanctum. The shorter of the two turn to face Strange, a knowing look on his face. 

"Don't think I didn't notice your use of the time stone", he says. Doctor Strange doesn't look at him. "You were checking for them in the future. You want them to come back!"

"As if", he huffs. "I think I've had enough of their shenanigans for a lifetime."

And to think, he hasn't even encountered any real trouble with the kids. So far, he has pretty much only seen them at their best. Ha!

And he thinks that was shenanigans...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> updates won't come as many at a time from now on, this has just been me getting started on this story so far


	5. In which bets are easily won

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Colonel James Rhodes thinks he can deal with the teens.. tony thinks he can't. they obviously bet on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, i did not think people were actually gonna like this.. thank you so much for reading and giving kudos, i really appreciate it!

Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes exits the sleek, black car, and looks up at the Tower with a fond smile on his face. It has been a few weeks since last time, having been busy to deal with all the political stuff going on, but it might as well have been a day. Really, nothing has changed. 

Well, except for the fact that Tony has unofficially adopted three teenage geniuses that are currently living in the Tower, but Rhodey is only glad his friend is not spending all time alone in there. 

So far, the man has not had the pleasure of meeting any teens, but today he will get to be with them all day while Tony sits in meetings some floors below. 

Rhodey enters the Tower and is instantly greeted by FRIDAY's voice welcoming him back. He replies politely, and then asks her to take him to whatever floor the others are on, as he walks toward the elevator. 

While he's standing in it, going up to the communal floor, he thinks about their bet. Tony has said he won't last an hour with the teens, which sounds pretty ridiculous, so Rhodey obviously took the bet. I mean, they're teenagers, not toddlers. It can't be that hard.. right?

The elevator doors open and he gulps inwardly. He is so losing this bet. 

In front of him, the Avengers kitchen stretches out just like he remembers it. Tony and all three teens are there within his view. He instantly recognizes his best friend, currently standing (yeah, what's up with that?) on the kitchen island with one hand on his hip and the other pointing at something in a scolding fashion. Rhodey can't see what it is. 

On the barstool next to Tony sits a teenage boy who is currently sporting a pouting look as he listens to whatever Tony is going on about. In one of his hands, the boy has something that looks suspiciously much like a gun. In the other is a fire extinguisher. Rhodey isn't sure whether this means he is a responsible person, for bringing the extinguisher, or irresponsible, for needing it in the first place. 

Another teenager, this one female, sits on the countertops behind Tony and the boy. She appears to be laughing at his expense, and judging from the way she holds her phone, she is recording all of whatever's going on. 

Oh, and there is a brunet sitting on the ceiling. 

Four pairs of eyes turn in his direction as the elevator doors open, and the teenager on the ceiling seems to lose his grip as he falls down to the floor with an indignant shriek and a 'thump'. The older man simply assumes they have some sort of tech that allows him to sit on the ceiling as easily as if it had been the floor. 

He is quick to sit up, though, to look back at Rhodey again with a cheery grin. 

"Hello, Mister Colonel Rhodes, sir", the boy greets and gets up, dusting his hands off on his jeans while taking some steps forward. "I'm Peter, and that's Shuri. She probably can't introduce herself right now because she's laughing too much."

Rhodey nods, not having composed himself enough to reply verbally, but he apparently doesn't have to do that as the boy continues speaking. 

"That's Harley, on the barstool. He's the responsible one.. well, at least by our standards. That's why he brought a fire extinguisher before he set the trash can on fire."

Rhodey just looks at him, not completely sure how you respond to that. 

"We're having a discussion about responsibility later, kids", Rhodey finally says. All three teens chuckle or giggle a bit at that, which the man counts as a point in his favor. 

Tony takes this as his cue to get down from the kitchen island, stepping on another barstool before getting down on the floor. He grins at Rhodey, then walks over to him and holds his arms out. 

 

Rhodey definitely overestimated himself. It only takes him fifteen minutes without Tony there, and suddenly all teens are just gone. Now you might wonder exactly how you misplace the three teenagers you were actively trying to keep an eye on, but when those three teens are the way Peter, Shuri and Harley are, it's a miracle if you last an hour.

Rhodey had been trying to keep them entertained in the living area of the communal floor, not trusting them in any other room. The kitchen was a huge and immediate 'no'. Likewise, the lab can be set on fire a little too easily when these kids are involved. That meant the living are was his best bet if he didn't want to lose them. 

Peter had been building something on the floor out of old scrapped parts with the help of Shuri. After maybe five minutes of that, the girl stood up and said she was gonna go get a cardboard box from somewhere. It didn't sound suspicious, so Rhodey obviously let her. 

Harley was next to go. He'd also been building something, but on his own, seated on the couch instead of on the floor. When Rhodey asked where he was going, he said he was getting a phone charger. 

So as Rhodey was left alone with Peter, it took him five whole seconds to realize that Peter wasn't actually there. Seriously. He only turned his eyes away for a short moment, and the teen just vanished. Rhodey didn't worry immediately, thinking that they were all bound to return at some point. 

That was ten minutes ago, and every single one has yet to come back. 

Now, he has realized that they most likely aren't going to come back on their own accord, so he walks out of the living room to go search for them. The most logical thing would be to visit the places they had said they would be going. Well, besides Peter, that is, considering he never said he'd be going anywhere. Rhodey is just hoping he'll find all of them in the first place he looks, but that's more like a dream than it is a sensible thought. 

Shuri hadn't known where exactly she could find a cardboard box, so that means she is probably still wandering around the Tower on the lookout for one. That also means Rhodey decides to go to wherever Harley's bedroom is, since that would have to be where he keeps his charger. 

The man enters the elevator and asks FRIDAY to guide him to Harley's sleeping quarters. Not much later, he arrives a floor below Tony's personal floor, which he knows from looking at the floor number. 

"FRIDAY", Rhodey says. "Just for future reference; do all teens live on this floor?"

"Yes, Colonel", the AI responds. "During their visits, they each have their own room down the hallway to your left. Boss has also built a lab for them on this same floor, where they have their own lab stations."

This makes Rhodey raise his eyebrows. The teens are apparently a somewhat permanent addition to the Tower, it seems like, or at the very least a recurring one. 

But he has no time to dwell on it. With a little bit of hurry in his steps, he moves down the hallway FRIDAY has instructed him to and knocks on the first door. He doesn't need to ask who has which room, because they've all made it quite clear. 

Harley's door has a huge H painted on it in blue color. It covers almost the whole door. Rhodey shakes his head, chuckling, not able to understand how Tony would ever let them do something like this in his own Tower. 

He looks down the hallway to see that Shuri's door has, besides her name written in pink glitter, also some sort of mechanical eyes on it. The eyes are almost at the same height as a normal pair of eyes would be. Knowing Shuri's talent for everything science, the colonel suspects that you can look through the eyes from the inside of the room to peek out into the hallway. 

Rhodey raises his hand and knocks on the door with the huge H. When no one answers, he asks FRIDAY if the room is currently occupied. She replies with no, but then adds that the teenagers' lab, on the other hand, is occupied at the moment. 

The man goes over to the only door in the hallway that has glass on it and looks inside before opening it, recognizing it as a lab. He sees Harley sitting by a working table, leaning forward over it and apparently working on some invention. 

When Rhodey enters, the teen doesn't notice him until the man clears his throat. Harley turns around and gives him a grin, holding up something small and round. It almost looks like...

"I've built a grenade that shoots glitter", he informs the older man. Seeing Rhodey's doubtful look, he continues, as if trying to sell his idea. "This is 300% effective. You will find glitter everywhere for months to follow, possibly even years. After a while, you'll just have to give in to the fact that you don't only have glitter everywhere, you are glitter."

"That's... cool", Rhodey finishes lamely. There is really no imaginable situation where that's effective, but he's never truly experienced the magic that glitter is.. No, he's getting off track. Rhodey then straightens his back, and gives Harley a stern glance. "But you just disappeared. I'm supposed to look after you three, and since I don't want the Tower to burn to the ground on my watch, I need to know where you are. So, maybe you could join me in finding the other two?"

The words make it sound like a question, but his expression informs Harley that it isn't. The teenager sighs while also rolling his eyes, but still gets up to follow the colonel. 

"I know where they are", Harley comments, which immediately gets Rhodey's attention. "And I'm willing to trade that information in exchange for candy and time in the lab. One hour. No, make that two."

Rhodey considers. He could always find the others on his own, but that might mean Harley disappears again... 

No way is he letting Harley go back into the lab before Tony gets out of his meetings. 

"Sorry, kid", Rhodey says without sounding sorry at all. "I'm not that desperate."

Harley sighs again and puts his hands in his pockets, but is still following Rhodey along through the hallway. 

"FRIDAY", the other man says aloud. "Where are Peter and Shuri?"

"Peter is currently in his bedroom. The Princess has just found a cardboard box in one of the archives on the floors of research and development."

Rhodey looks at Harley with a teasing smile. "Seems I can manage it on my own, anyway."

They walk together down the hallway to Peter's room, which is the furthest away from the elevator. This door seems much more average than the other ones, but Rhodey does notice that the door is missing a door knob. There is nothing to open the door with, at least not on the outside.

Visible in the upper corner of the door is also a small metal plate, maybe half an inch by half an inch in size, with a red, glowing dot in the middle. Rhodey has no idea what kind of weird gadget that is connected to, and he suspects the explanation is too long for him to listen to. And also, too much science for him to comprehend. 

He still knocks on the door. No sounds can be heard through the door, but after knocking, he hears someone mumbling. 

"Uuh, wait a second!" a high voice replies. It's definitely Peter, but he sounds much more nervous than an innocent person should be sounding. "I'm coming!" 

He says so, but it doesn't sound like anyone is coming for the door. After almost a minute has passed, even Harley is interested in what's going on inside. 

"Parker?" the older teen shouts. "We're still here, y'know."

"I know", the teen replies from the other side of the door. "But I'm, uh, a little preoccupied at the moment. Please come back later."

Oh oh. That definitely does not sound good, especially not to Rhodey. He takes a step closer to the door and knocks again. 

"Peter, come and open, now", he orders. 

"I don't think that's really possible at the moment, Mister Colonel Rhodes, sir."

"Just Rhodey is fine, kid... As long as you open this door for us. I don't know if you're aware of this, but the door knob appears to have gone missing."

"Nope, it's meant to be that way", Peter responds way too cheerfully. "I'm the only one who can open it... Well, the only one in this Tower, anyway. And I swear I would open the door if I could... Oh wait, I have an idea, hang on!"

There's a weird sound coming from inside, one that Rhodey can only describe as a 'thwip', and then the door is being pulled open from inside. 

Harley and Rhodey both step into the doorframe, looking inside the room. What they see makes Harley start to laugh and Rhodey to widen his eyes. In his defense, anyone would have, considering Peter's secret isn't really public knowledge. 

Peter is hanging from the fan in something that looks like webs and now he seems to have gotten stuck. The fan isn't spinning anymore, but his webs have gotten him trapped under multiple different strings of the weird fluid. Peter looks down at them with as much dignity as he possibly can before speaking, with Harley recording it all. 

"Uh, so, you may be wondering how I ended up in this situation. Well, you guys, Peter doesn't know either."

Harley laughs and sends the video to Shuri, even though she's only some floors below them. 

"It seems you've found yourself in a bit of a sticky situation there, Peter", Rhodey says, and this makes Harley laugh even more. Peter only huffs and tries to cross his arms, but accidentally breaks off some webs that fall down to the floor. 

Rhodey is still seriously confused about how he got to the ceiling with those webs, which he assumes are an invention that one of the teenagers or possible Stark himself has come up with. It seems it has great tensile strength. Of course, he doesn't know how or why it's been made, but with these teenagers, fun is enough of a reason to do literally anything. 

 

Shuri actually comes to them only five minutes later, almost at the same second as Peter falls from the ceiling onto the floor for the second time that day. Her cardboard box looks like one of those moving boxes, large enough to fit a person inside, and she's carrying it behind her back for some reason, as if that makes it invisible. 

Peter sits up on the floor, and Harley lowers his phone with a chuckle, very obviously having recorded when he fell. 

"I sent the video to Tony", the older boy tells Pete, who groans in response. 

"Noo", he says. "He's probably gonna call me now and my phone is still on the communal floor."

"Race you down!" Shuri suddenly shouts, and the other two teens are so fast to run out of the room after her that Rhodey has to blink twice before realizing that he's probably supposed to follow them. The webs are left hanging from the ceiling, reaching down to the floor, but no one really knows how to clean it up anyway. Except Peter. He knows that they are to disintegrate in two hours. 

Rhodey walks out to see the teenagers disappear around a corner down the hallway, but not toward the elevator. He frowns and speeds up his pace, a little worried about what they are up to now. 

When he turns the corner, the first things he sees are the backs of Shuri and Harley. She is no longer holding the box. When they move a little, Rhodey can see it standing on the floor in front of them.. with Peter sitting in it. 

He takes another step forward and notice the staircase in front of them. 

"No!" Rhodey screams without his usual composed attitude, but it's too late. Shuri and Harley both help push at the box, and then it's moving down the stairs with Peter in it, picking up speed as it goes.

He hurries forward, pushing past the two teens that stand there, giggling, and as usual, recording it. 

"Hey!" Shuri says when Rhodey turns to her, ready to give them a lecture. "This was all for scientific purposes." She then turns to the stairs, looking down at Peter who has now reached the bottom of it by now. The box is all messed up, but has in some miraculous way been held together. 

Peter turns around to give them a thumbs up and a slightly pained expression. 

"I'm thinking we add cushions next time", he grimaces. 

Although Rhodey would never admit it, he is definitely fond of these kids now. Not that he's ever gonna let these things happen again, though. Hopefully they never push people down the stairs again. Or sit on ceilings. Or build glitter grenades. Or get stuck in webs in a locked room. 

But even with all their craziness, and their weird quirks... the teenagers have earned his approval.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again for reading! oh and in case you're wondering, you need super-strength to open peter's door. he redesigned it after "some people" broke into his room one too many times


	6. In which working can be fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> somehow, questions = challenges. when someone asks if you're capable of climbing on glass, you obviously have to prove it. obviously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i still have 8 pre-written chapters after this one so I can continue to upload often, and i'm currently working on a multiple chapter story arch, involving something that's foreshadowed in this part. oh and i just learned how to write _cursive words_

_Last night_

Harley lay down on top of the blanket on the roof, while Peter and Shuri shared one of the couches that belonged to the set of outdoor furniture that Mr. Stark kept there specifically for his younger residents. 

They started off looking at the stars and pointing out the constellations they knew. All three of them actually had quite a bit of knowledge about astronomy, combined. 

After a while, they started asking each other questions. Of course, if that question was wondering about someone's abilities, the person obviously had to prove their answer. How else would they answer?

So when Shuri asked Peter if he could stick to glass, he had no choice but to climb over the ledge and a few feet down on the building's glass walls. Harley and Shuri looked down at him from the rooftop, half-hoping he would fall just because it would look pretty funny. 

Shuri blasted a parasol of the roof with a piece of tech she had invented. Then Peter had to go get his Spiderman suit and climb down the tower to retreat it from the street far down below them, where it had ended up nearly hitting a civilian. He screamed at Peter for three whole minutes before realizing he was shouting at Spider-man. Well, it's always nice to be recognized for your efforts. 

Around two a.m, all three of them fell asleep in various positions on the rooftop. Shuri had her blanket on the ground, but her legs were still up on the couch, where Harley was decked. Peter was laying curled up in an armchair next to them. 

***

To his surprise, Tony Stark returns from his meetings to the Tower still standing. He's been gone for much longer than expected, having been called off for some business over sea while Rhodey babysat his teenagers. Luckily, his quinjet moves fast and doesn't keep him away for more than a day, anyway. 

It's four in the morning the following day when he stumbles through the living area without finding a single sign of destruction. Either, nothing happened yesterday, or they've just been really good at hiding the evidence. 

He will be assuming the latter until someone can prove him wrong. 

Anyhow, it's too late (or is it early?) to stay awake, so he stumbles along and falls face first onto the bed. A minute later, the man is fast asleep. 

Tony doesn't have to know that the teens fell asleep just two hours previously. It's also entirely irrelevant to tell him that they are actually sleeping on the roof after having gone out last night to stargaze... among other things. 

 

At ten the following morning, Mr. Stark wakes up and goes to look for the teens in the kitchen. Then the living room, followed by their bedrooms. 

After that, he has to ask FRIDAY, somewhat worriedly, where they are. 

"I believe they have yet to return from the rooftop where they got locked out last night", she answers. Of course, the teens haven't even noticed that the door is locked, since they're still asleep and never tried to go inside again since last night. 

Mr. Stark does not know that, though, instead thinking that they might be worried about how to get inside. He rides the elevator up, and locks up the door from the inside before opening it and peeking out. 

Harley is laying with one arm and one leg out over the edge of the couch, while Shuri also has her legs up on the couch. He smiles fondly at them and snaps a picture of the scene with his phone.

Not until he's looking at the picture does he realize that Peter isn't here. Worry floods his chest, and he has to remember that he hasn't actually asked them about whether the boy has gone missing or not yet, so _don't start worrying_. 

He walks out onto the roof, while also making sure that the door does not fall shut, just in case. 

"Oh, how I wish I had an airhorn", Tony mutters. 

"If you want me to, Boss, I might play a recording of an airhorn", FRIDAY helpfully supplies. Tony Stark grins. He isn't faces with many opportunities to put them through even a fraction of all the troubles they put him through on a daily basis, so every chance at revenge is a chance he has to take advantage of. 

Two seconds later, Harley and Shuri are jumping up, looking around wildly before spotting Mr. Stark where he stands over by the door with a grin on his face. They both shoot him dark looks. It only makes the situation look more hilarious, with their wrinkled clothes and messy bed heads. 

He then remembers why he woke them up in the first place.

"Good morning", he chirps. "Before you get mad at me; do you happen to know where Parker is?"

Shuri raises her arm with the kimoyo beads on it and appears to be looking at the time. 

"Oh, yeah", she replies, sounding a bit groggy from sleep. "Probably at work. He said he should be there at nine."

Tony stops fiddling with his phone and looks at the girl, one eyebrow raised. The boy has not mentioned anything about a job, and Tony doesn't believe he's been working with anything before this day. Except the internship, that is. 

"Yeah," Harley agrees, seeing Tony's confusion. "At the paint shop downtown. His aunt had to skip a shift at the hospital, so he said he'd do some little job to make up for what she can't do today." 

On the outside, Tony remains indifferent as he nods along to what they're telling him. In his mind, however, his thoughts are bubbling like boiled water. Mostly, he's just confused. 

"Okay", he finds himself saying. "Go down and have some breakfast before this door gets you locked out again."

Both teens widen their eyes, not aware that they had been locked out of the Tower in the first place. 

Tony turns around and walks back inside to take the elevator down to his lab. Why didn't Peter tell him about this? And how could he get a job so quickly, and also, should sixteen year olds actually be working? What's he doing at a paint store?

He's confused, to make it simple. 

While the teens have their breakfast, Tony stays in the kitchen with them, working from his tablet that he just went to get from the lab. He's been away from them for long enough already. Even something simple, like breakfast, is nice to get back to. A small flashback of yesterday's meal flashes through his mind, when Harley set the trash can on fire and Peter sat on the ceiling and Shuri recorded, ending when Rhodey arrived. It's nice that his friend has finally gotten to meet the teens. 

Based on what Tony has heard, Rhodey actually appreciated them. He didn't think they would work together, in all honesty. Their levels of composure and responsibility are just so very different.. Maybe they even each other out. Oh no. Now Tony's regrets introducing them, as he thinks about how this means they can conspire against him, with a smart adult on their side. 

He shudders. 

After they all finish eating, he somehow manages to convince them to watch movies instead of going to the lab, where they would undoubtedly cause some chaos. It's probably only due to the fact that they're very tired that he has such an easy time convincing them. Any other day, they would have resisted his persuasive speeches. Time in the lab usually wins over movies. 

He gets pretty far on his work while they're lounging on the couch, just chilling. The teens are watching something about a man who gets stranded on Mars, alone in space. Tony shudders at the thought of it. 

"I wanna go to space", Shuri says in a low voice, looking at the screen in wonder. 

"Me too", Harley agrees, then turns to face the younger girl. "Aren't there Wakandan ships that can go to space, or something?"

"Yeah, there are! We could take one and go to the moon in, like, an afternoon!" 

"No, no, no", Tony interrupts, lowering his tablet as he overhears their discussion. Better stop the trouble before it has the time to properly start. 

"Of course, it takes three days to arrive there", Shuri quickly amends without responding to Mr. Stark. "So we couldn't get there in an afternoon."

"Nope, not happening", Tony continues. "You're not going to space, not on my watch."

"But.." Harley begins, but gets interrupted by the adult in the room. The adult also just happens to be the only reasonable person, even though he's not the most adulting adult there is. 

"And that's final."

That shuts down their discussion, and so the teenagers turn back to the TV, although it's with some hesitance. He can still hear them whisper about how you pack food for space travels and things of a similar nature, but he chooses to not acknowledge them. The man has enough common sense to realize that the discussion isn't won for good, and that they will most definitely try to go to space some other time, but for now, they're good. Let's hope it lasts more than two minutes. 

After another hour, and some more blueprints for future improvements to the Iron Man suits done by Stark, the elevator dings and slide open. Out comes Peter Parker, with a bright smile on his face and hair that's been messed up from the wind outside. 

Shuri and Harley turn around on the couch, each giving him a small wave as he walks over to them. The older man is still busy with his work, but tries to finish the last part of it a little quicker.

"Hey, Pete", Harley greets. "What did you get to do?"

"I got to name colors", Peter responds, still smiling. At this, Tony looks up and actually puts his work down. 

"You can't name colors", he objects with a frown. "They're all named already."

"No, I mean yeah, they are, but I got to name these special colors of paint that needed names for the paint."

"Oh", Tony says, sort of understanding but also being very confused by Peter's unclear description. He's not the best at explaining things. 

Then Peter shows them a note of what he has named the colors, and Tony simultaneously feels like rolling his eyes and laughing out loud at the young boy's creativity. 

Explosion, Darkness, Looks like an egg, This is green, Very very white, Blue, Blue again, Blue but mixed with smoke, Why name colors at all?, Just look at the color yourself, Another green, Don't choose this one!, Liquid ghost (like, it's even more white than very very white was), Is it blue like the ocean?, It's always 'like the ocean', Just choose a flippin color.

They don't know it at the time, but only a week later, the paint shop is going to pay Peter some additional money simply because of how well the colors are selling. But as I said; they don't know it at the time. 

So if Peter's thing for science doesn't work out, he knows he can always blow people away with his brilliance down at the local paint shop. A pretty good backup plan, to be honest. At least his friends enjoy his imaginative names for the paint. 

Turns out fun and work can be combined, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, there's some foreshadowing in this. if you didn't notice, i won't tell you where it is though. 
> 
> thank you all for reading n giving kudos, it's very appreciated! n also the comments, they just make my day :)


	7. In which windows are spider doors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a spider enters through a window. confusion follows, at least for tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone wants to know, the foreshadowing in the previous chapter is related to how the teens are gonna meet the guardians :)

>>The IronKids<< groupchat

_FirstBorn_  
pete. me n shuri r workin in th lab rite now n we only hav one screwdriver  
can u go get one from dads lab

_PutterPerker_  
y dont you just take turns with our screwdriver

_Dad's favorite_  
uh how bout no

_PutterPerker_  
guys he locked the door

_FirstBorn_  
wait did u srsly just say no n then went strait to get it??

_PutterPerker_  
shut up  
maybe i did  
i mean i could always use the spider door  
aka the window

_FirstBorn_  
yeh do that

_Dad's favorite_  
remind me next time to get u to steal when i need stuff from there  
im never doin it again  
u have supplied me with knowledge n i will honor your skills for a lifetime  
u sure r great at everything pete  
oh how i love u my brother

_PutterPerker_  
... what more do you need me to steal? -.-

_Dad's favorite_  
i might need some wire brushes...

_PutterPerker_  
im on it

***

Tony unlocks the door to his lab and steps inside. He just ventured out into the kitchen to grab another cup of coffee, taking maybe two minutes off from his work, but now as he enters again, he instantly notices that something is wrong. Tony stops in the middle of a step to stare around. 

The screwdriver that he knows for sure he's left on the work table where he was sitting earlier is no longer there. 

"FRIDAY", Tony says. "Can you confirm that I left my screwdriver exactly in that empty spot, there?"

He gestures vaguely toward the working table. 

"Yes, Boss", she replies. "You did, in fact, leave a screwdriver there."

The man frowns and steps further into the lab. If it isn't there anymore, that has to mean someone's taken it. 

He looks out into the hallway, thinking about the teens. They are supposedly working in their own lab right now, at least according to what they told him. Even though they're the most likely thieves, he knows they have their own screwdriver up in there. 

Tony shrugs to himself. It doesn't really matter that much to him right now, it's only annoying that it has gone missing and he doesn't know where. 

 

The next thing happens two hours later. He has gone downstairs to eat dinner with the kids, and when he gets back, some dry-cell batteries are missing from his working bench, where they'd been thrown earlier. A lot of people might assume that Stark does not know exactly where he keeps everything in his lab, which just so happens to be true, but he actually does keep track of most things. And if he doesn't, then FRIDAY does. 

That's how he notices the missing objects so quickly. 

"Okay, that's it", he says, exasperated. "FRIDAY, has anyone opened this locked door while I was gone?"

"No, Boss, the door has remained closed and locked."

Well, then... Did they hack FRIDAY? Did they break in through the door? That would leave marks, right? 

Tony sighs and shakes his head, too tired to deal with this right now. Instead of addressing the problem and figuring out where his stuff is disappearing to, he gets back to work on a suit. He knows that he's meant to be working on the Accords, and he's also aware of just how pressuring that matter truly is, but still can't bring himself to do it. Firstly, it's much more boring. Secondly... It brings back way too many memories. Not particularly nice ones. 

Then, someone taps him on the shoulder suddenly, and he jumps. The door's supposedly locked, so there's no way for anyone to get in. 

"Kid! How'd you get in? The door's locked!" Tony breaths a sigh of relief upon seeing it's only Peter there, standing behind him with his big brown eyes fixed on what Tony's working on with interest. 

"I used what I like to call the spider door. If spiders could open doors that is.. To humans, it's also known as the window", Peter replies candidly, and somewhat confusingly. 

But everything makes so much more sense now. Tony doesn't think he's ever bothered locking the windows to the lab besides the times when he shuts it down for the night and tells FRIDAY to do a complete lockdown. During the days, he usually comes in there more than once, leaving no frame of time for someone to do anything through the windows.. Not that many people can get up to windows this high. 

"Wait, is it you who's been stealing stuff from my lab today?"

"Borrowed", Peter corrects. "And it wasn't only today, i've been doing it for months now, you just never noticed. But I wasn't actually the one who needed stuff. Or, uh, you know, there was this one time when I wanted to make some minor improvement to my suit and needed to look at some older blueprints but FRIDAY said they could only be accessed from the computers in your locked lab and with a security code."

"How did you get this security code, if I may ask?"

"Uh", Peter says, his voice going up about an octave higher. "It's been great talking to you, mister Stark. Gotta go now!" 

The teen jumps backwards toward the window, then flips out of it with a nice backflip, quickly disappearing from sight. Tony only barely manages to avoid a heart attack upon seeing it. 

At least he doesn't have to worry about vanished objects anymore. 

 

The time is around eleven at night when the window opens the next time. Tony looks up from his work, for once glad to have been interrupted. He's actually really tired. 

As Peter makes his way across the lab, Tony rubs at his face with one hand, then watches with a frown as the teenager goes over to the door. He turns the lock and opens it up, revealing Shuri and Harley waiting on the other side. 

"Okay, Peter, you have found that you have power and now you're misusing it", Tony says jokingly, referring to how he's letting his friends inside a locked room by breaking in himself. "But seriously. You're not gonna start working on something at this time, not any of you."

"Well, we're not going to bed, so why not?" Harley objects. 

"Then I'm telling you now: Go to bed."

"If you're not going to bed, then we aren't, either", Peter argues, crossing his arms and standing next to the other two. 

"Kids, I can take care of myself."

"You really can't. We talked with Colonel Rhodes about it", Shuri joins in, and he once again thinks about the power the trio has when they combine forces with Rhodey. 

"Goddammit, I knew I shouldn't have introduced you.." the man sighs. 

The three teens grin a bit at that, but are still adamant about not going to bed. 

"Okay, how about this. All four of us go to bed. Will you do it then?" Tony suggests, thinking that the work he's doing isn't actually that important to get done tonight. 

He is met with suspicious looks, coming from all three teenagers. Tony would actually have chuckled at that, if it isn't for the fact that those looks are directed at him. The kids aren't sure he will follow through with that deal. 

"We're having FRIDAY tell us if you don't actually go to bed", Shuri finally says, the boys nodding their approval to that. Tony hums. It's a reasonable tactic, and he is actually fine with it. It's not like he plans on going back to work today, anyway. 

"Sure", he agrees. "Let's go to bed, then. This day has been weird enough already."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter: one of the other six original avengers is introduced!


	8. In which rollerblades go further than arrows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some rollerblades, first fight scene, and the introduction of an avenger!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, this story has about a hundred more kudos and a thousand more hits than i was expecting, and i posted it like four days ago? thank you all! <3

"We should install heelys in Peter's suit", Shuri comments, grinning as she watches Peter pull himself forward on a pair of rollerblades, using his webs to do so. He's also wearing the rest of his suit in order to protect his identity. 

Her and Harley are currently standing to the side to watch. They each have a pair of rollerblades on, as well, but have taken a small break from using them. 

They have gone to the same abandoned part of the city as where they'd found a blue wolf some days previously... Or, well, they'd been there to test out the upgrades to Peter's suit, but that hadn't been the main event of that day. The blue wolf had been plenty interesting. 

It's a clear day outside. Perfect for some rollerblading, nothing out of the ordinary planned. Except for the fact that Peter is doing it in his suit, using his webs to go even faster, but it's not like that's more than what the three teens are used to. All in all: A normal day with some nice outdoor activity. 

Harley grins at Shuri's suggestion, imagining how Spider-man in heelys would look. "Local hero takes to rescuing civilians in his heelys". Just think about everything the journalists could come up with after that. 

As Harley thinks about that scenario, his younger friend comes skating back to the pair. Peter's face isn't visible since he has the mask, but the others can easily imagine how wide his grin is underneath. He comes to a stop in front of them. 

"Guys, wanna race?" the teenager suggests. The other two are quick to agree, their nods enthusiastic, with big smiles on their faces.

The three of them roll out to the middle of the empty road, placing themselves so that they're facing an alley. 

"Should you really be racing in your suit?" Shuri asks, looking at Peter. "If we race, we will be seen out in the city. People will recognize Spider-man."

Peter just shrugs, looking to Harley for his opinion. The older boy grins. He might be the most responsible, but that's solely because there's no real competition between them, and not because he's a responsible person. That's what he thinks about as he tells Peter to just go for it. 

They make a vague plan of what roads they're gonna take, then shout out the countdown (very loudly) together, from three to one.

Their little group takes off at the same time, Shuri rolling a tiny bit ahead of the boys. She holds the lead for only a few seconds, until they're turning out of the alley on the other side of the buildings, when Peter turns so sharply that he passes her. 

Out on the next street, there are a few more pedestrians, but none of them really bother to look at the three teens shooting past them on their rollerblades. A little girl points at Peter in his superhero suit with wide eyes, but her dad pulls her away from there without looking at the rare sight in front of him. 

All three teens are highly serious about the competition, but their laughs are still loud in the morning. For being so noisy, there's only a small amount of people noticing them when they roll past. 

Harley takes the lead for a little while, then Shuri takes it back again. Sooner of later, they reach a part of the city that they're not familiar with. Of course, Shuri isn't really familiar with any part of it, and Harley's knowledge is pretty limited as well, but now even Peter is lost. 

That doesn't stop them from continuing to race forward, though, as fast as their abilities allow them to. 

Peter passes the other two, then prepares to turn into an alley on their right side. He turns, and skates straight into a couple of trash bins, knocking them over with a loud crash. 

Shuri and Harley skate right into the mess, toppling over Peter and the trash. 

A couple of dark voices immediately start shouting in the background, and there's an uproar of things happening at once. 

Peter's the first to get up again and catch a glimpse of what's going on in this alley. A white van is parked in it, close to the trash bins he just knocked over, and four people in dark outfits are placed around it. No, wait, five. One is in the driver's seat. 

They're all shouting and trying to get back into the van, probably having done something illegal and now they don't want to get caught. 

One of the two women of the group turns to look at what caused the commotion, and tilts her head as she lays eyes on Peter. 

"Wait, aren't you that Spider-dude from Youtube?" she asks, her tone way too casual for the situation. 

"Uuh... yeah", Peter replies with the same uncertainty as when Karen first asked him to activate enhanced combat mode and he didn't know what that meant. Then, he pulls one arm forward and presses down the button on his web shooters, having the woman caught off-guard as he hits her in the face with some webbing. 

While she starts pulling at that, loosing her balance and tripping overherself, Peter turns to the other criminals and sees all the weapons they're loading into the back of the van. 

There's a tingling feeling in the back of his mind, and he ducks just in time to avoid getting shot by Shuri, who's brought out some sort of shooting-weapon-thingy behind him, currently aiming it at the other four guys. She hits a tall man, who also happens to be the one carrying most of the weapons. He falls to the ground, and that's when the other three finally notice that they're actually being attacked by the teens that toppled over some trash bins a moment ago. 

A blond man, standing by the back of the van, looks over at them. Peter prepares to shoot at him just as he pulls a gun out of the vehicle, but the man is quicker to shoot at Spider-man. The teen ducks from the shot while Shuri aims at the man from where she's standing behind the young spider. 

She hits him, and he falls to the ground, too. 

While that's going on, Harley moves to stand behind the corner of the alley, where they just came from, to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. 

Now there's only a woman and the driver left. Both of them have gotten into the van already, and as Peter and Shuri turns around to attack them, the driver presses down on the gas, starting to move the vehicle out of there. 

He barely gets them out of the alley before a figure jumps down at the front window from above, a bow in his hand, and dressed in some sort of protective gear. The driver stands on the brakes upon seeing the figure land on his car window. The sudden stop doesn't throw the archer off, but he instead pulls out an arrow and prepares to take a shot. 

The driver puts his shaking hands up, letting go of the wheel to silently beg the man not to shoot. While this happens, Peter quickly webs the woman and man on the ground so that they're stuck, and won't get up anytime soon. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Peter sees the doors on the other side of the van open and the woman silently gets out in an attempt to run away while the archer deals with the driver. He turns around in a split-second and hits her with some webbing. 

She falls to the ground, unable to see anything. Peter takes another shot to stick her to the concrete. 

As the archer briefly looks away to see what the tumult is all about, the driver throws himself out of the door, but Peter webs him to the van before he can take another step from there. 

The teens look to the archer, who's looking right back at them. He then sighs heavily and jumps down from the van to stand in front of them instead. 

"Ohmygosh, you're Hawkeye!" Peter suddenly bursts out, quickly recognizing the other superhero. 

"And you're Spider-man", the archer acknowledges with a nod. "I'd thank you for taking them out, but considering you're the ones who interrupted the trade in the first place, I think I just won't."

"We're so sorry, Mr. Hawkeye, sir", Peter says candidly, realizing that they might have interrupted some important mission of his. 

"Don't worry", the man continues, looking with interest at the spandex-clad hero, most likely thinking about how young he sounds. "It wasn't an important mission.. Anyway, who exactly are you guys?"

The man turns to Shuri, then spots Harley coming out from behind the corner to join their little group, and knits his eyebrows. 

"My name is Shuri, Princess of Wakanda", she introduces herself with a confident stance, head held high and meeting the man's gaze. "This is my friend Harley Keener."

Harley nods at the archer with a grin. Hawkeye returns the motion. 

"Well, normally I'd invite you over for a cup of coffee for helping me deal with that, but I doubt twelve year-olds drink coffee."

"I'm sixteen", Peter and Shuri say in a chorus at the same time as Harley goes "I'm seventeen."

Hawkeye crosses his arms in front of him and raises his eyebrows, barely able to hold back a grin. 

"Wow", he says. "That was easy to find out... I knew Spider-man was young, but not that young. And I'm honestly so confused right now... How do you two know him? You do know his identity, right?"

All three teens start speaking at the same time, but the older man holds up a hand to stop them, then points to Harley, silently asking him to tell the story. 

"Well", the oldest teen begins. "Yeah, we know his identity. We're kind of like siblings but not really because we have our own parents, but none of us actually have that for real, now that I think of it.. Anyway, we live together in the secret place that I don't think I can tell you and we have a dad together, but he just doesn't know it yet, because it's not official. And yeah, my sort-of brother but not really is a superhero, but he was that before we met him, and our sort-of sister but not really is a Princess. We met each other a few months ago."

Hawkeye blinks twice. "Okay. I understood everything except for the first and second halves of it, and I regret to inform you that you're not the best at explaining things."

Shuri chuckles at that, and Harley shoves her a little in annoyance. 

"Yeah, well, if you knew how we know each other I think that'd be a great help", Harley says to defend himself. "And I think Spider-man's identity is something you gotta know if you're gonna understand the story."

"Uh, we can tell him where we're all living right now, right?" Peter jumps in. "I mean, it's not a secret that Spider-man knows Iron Man."

"You're right", Shuri nods, then turns to Hawkeye. "We live in the Avengers Tower."

The man draws a sharp breath, then nods in understanding. He remembers the place a little too vividly for his own liking, having a lot of memories from there, when the Avengers were still together. Seems like they've been replaced since then... by a couple of teenagers. 

"Wait.." he exclaims. "Does that mean your unofficial, sort-of dad is Tony Stark? _The_ Tony Stark?"

The teens look between each other, then nod hesitantly. There's no real reason to lie about it. 

Harley's phone choses that exact second to start ringing, so he excuses himself to turn away and answer it. The caller ID reads 'Tony Stank', and there's a picture of Tony having fallen asleep in the lab lighting up the screen. 

Hawkeye looks at it with a bittersweet taste in his mouth. It seems like such a long time ago that was a usual sight to his eyes, yet his memories of it are clear as ever. 

"Hm?... Oh, yeah... No, we're not lost, what makes you think that?... Yeah, that'd be great... Sorry... No... Okay, bye!.. Yes... Yeah... Sure, _bye!_.... Okay.... Okay, bye!" Harley speaks into the phone, the others stopping their conversation to listen in, even though they're not given much information from it. 

The oldest teen then walks back to the others.

"Well, it seems we're missed", he announces with a wry smile. "I think we gotta go, so I guess this is bye for now, Hawkeye."

"Yeah", Peter chimes in. "Bye, Mr. Hawkeye, sir!" 

"Call me Clint", the archer tells them. "And goodbye, for now. For some reason, I have a feeling this isn't the last we see of each other."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that phonecall is me any time i'm on the phone with my parents


	9. In which teenagers are babysitters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teens try to have a casual day out in the city. When do they ever get what they want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've mentioned earlier that the rogue avengers aren't pardoned yet, but that clint & scott have been cleared from their house arrests. that'll be relevant a few chapters from now, but just so you know, that's how they could meet clint so randomly in the last part :)

"Where are you three going?" Tony asks, watching from his spot on the couch as the teens walk toward the elevator. 

"The library", Shuri answers him. "Bye!"

Stark looks at them a little suspiciously, then shrugs. 

"Okay", the man replies, going back to reading whatever he's looking at on his tablet. "Just be back before dinner, and don't set anything on fire, and don't get into trouble."

"You're asking too much of us", Harley grins, but silently begs that they're not actually gonna get in any more trouble than they've already experienced during the short time they've been living together in the Tower. 

At least they've started to go outside more than they did the first days. That's always a plus. 

The teens step into the elevator, and then they're gone. 

"FRIDAY", Tony says. "They _are_ going to the library, right? It's not just some ploy while they're out doing illegal shit or something?"

"Yes, boss", the AI replies. "Shuri, Peter and Memelord do intend to visit the library."

Tony doesn't bother asking why Harley's name is changed, or what that word even means. He doubts he could get an enlightening answer, anyway. 

 

Public transportation is interesting, Shuri decides as she watches an older man throw up a little further away from them in the subway. A baby continues to cry next to her as it happens. 

Peter remains unbothered where he's standing near their seats, having given up his spot to the woman with the baby a stop previously. He's typing on his phone, sometimes looking up to give his companions a smile. Harley is sitting on the other side of Shuri, looking very annoyed with how the subway ride is going. 

Luckily, it's their stop next. As the train comes to a halt, the teens quickly get up and move out from it, leaving the crying baby behind. They get all the way up from the station without speaking much to each other. 

As soon as they can breath fresh air again, a little of the green hue to Harley's skin seems to disappear. Shuri just shakes her head with a grin. That was certainly an experience.. She may want to do it again some other time. 

The library they're going to isn't far from where the train stops. It takes maybe five minutes for the teens to walk there, the tall stone building easily visible in the busy street as they approach it. 

They could have easily stayed at the Tower to work on their little projects, but were growing tired of never seeing the parts of the city that aren't as close to home. It was Shuri's idea to go somewhere else to work on their projects.

The point isn't that they lack the required books at home, or that they need a calm environment for working, but that they want to see something else. Shuri had suggested a café, or something, when Peter remembered that the library was actually a great source of science books. Easily accessible information, and all that. 

So, that's where they're at right now, just entering through the double doors. 

They all look up with amazement at the towering bookshelves all around them, some reaching all the way to the ceiling. There's a half floor going out in the middle of the open space up to the painted ceiling. 

Shuri takes two steps inside and decides that this is her new favorite place in New York.

Everything is calm. It's a perfect place to study. If school had been going on, that is. There aren't actually that many people here at the moment. Only a small number of strangers are scattered between the many dark wooden tables, sitting pretty far apart. One or two couples are sharing tables, but that's it. 

It's hushed... Except for two frantic voices a little further away, and a third one trying to calm them down. Shuri and Harley only hear the first two, but Peter with his enhanced hearing picks up on a female voice trying to soothe the previous ones. 

The teens look at each other, and Peter points toward one of the aisle-like corridors, lined with bookshelves, leading to a table placed in front of a large window. They walk forward to be able to look all the way inside and there they see two kids sitting on the table. A woman stands in front of them, her curly black hair the only identifiable trait they can make out, as the teens only see her from behind. 

"Should we... help, or something?" Harley asks uncertainly, but it's not necessary. Peter is already moving forward toward the other trio. 

He stops close to them, but no close enough to be intruding. Shuri is behind him with Harley a little further back. 

"Uuh, hey", Peter says, gaining the attention of the three people. The woman turns around, her big brown eyes going from kind to slightly suspicious, and then back to kind again once she realizes they're only teenagers. "Is everything alright?"

"No!" one of the kids exclaim, her expression distraught. Her two dirty blonde braids are starting to get messed up from her pulling at the hair ties too much. "Our friend is missing!"

"Cassie", the other child, a boy who looks pretty similar to the girl, says. "She's gone."

"Okay", Peter says softly, coming closer to the younger kids. "What are your names? How old are you?"

"I'm Cooper, and I'm twelve", the boy replies. "This is my sister Lila. She's nine.."

"Our dadses are coming in like an hour", Lila interrupts, clearly not in the mood for any small talk. "We need to find Cassie!"

"And we will", Peter tries to reassure her, then turns to the other teens and the unknown woman who's still watching them. She looks to be a librarian, judging from the nametag on her jacket. 

"We've already looked around the whole library", the woman says. Peter reads her name, where it's written 'Sheila' in messy handwriting. He then nods, listening to what she's saying. "Cassie's not in the building. I've been with them for maybe half an hour now, and nobody's seen her in that time."

"Peter, why don't you go out and look for Cassie while we stay here with Cooper and Lila", Shuri suggest, giving him a knowing look. "You can bring your backpack."

He nods, then turns to the kids. 

"I'll be back with your friend as soon as possible", he promises before grabbing the backpack he's put down on the floor and rushing off.

As he leaves, he hears Sheila say, 

"Not that I'm not thankful for the help, but how does he plan on finding her? She could be pretty far away by now..."

Peter just smiles to himself as he places the web shooters around his wrists. 

 

He's dressed in his Spider-man suit, swinging around the streets closest to the library, looking for a girl around the same age as Lila or Cooper that seems lost. So far, every kid he's seen has been in the company of an adult. 

It's only been five minutes since he left the others when he takes a swing that puts the East river within his sight, where he spots a girl sitting alone on the ground next to the railing. There's something moving in her lap that he can't quite make out what it is. 

Peter wastes no time trying to figure out whether that's the girl he's looking for or not, just webs over there as fast as possible. The kid doesn't seem to notice his approach. 

He drops down on the ground in front of her, and that's when she looks up. Her eyes grow comically large upon seeing him. The dog in her lap (because that's what it was) barks happily. 

"You're Spider-man!" she says in a cheerful voice, rising from her sitting position to stand up instead. "Are you here to save me?"

"Yeah", he chuckles. "I think I am, actually. Your friends over at the library are missing you, Cassie."

"Oh.." she says, sounding a little conflicted. "I wasn't meant to leave. I didn't mean to! But this dog was outside the doors, and he looked lonely, so I went outside to help him find his way home but then I followed him away and then I was lost because he doesn't have a collar.."

"That's fine", Peter tells her, trying to comfort the kid. "It's fine now. You wanna swing back with me? I bet you've never traveled by webs before."

Her already wide eyes widen even more at this.

Peter lifts her up easily and prepares to take off. Before he does so, he looks over at the girl. 

"Oh, and can you keep a secret? It's really important you don't tell anyone, because people could get hurt."

She looks back at him with a determined face. "You can trust me."

"Okay", Peter says. "Because when we get there, I'll have to take off my suit, so you'll see my face under the mask."

 

The ride back is much faster. Cassie has put the dog in Peter's backpack, which he's still wearing as he webs around, and the dog is coming back to the library with them. What will happen with it later is still a question, but not an important one right now, as Peter lowers them into an alley close to the library. 

He sets Cassie down on the ground and carefully hands her his backpack, still with the dog in it, then presses the spider on his chest so that his suit falls off his body. 

Peter then pulls of his mask, drawing a sharp breath as his head comes out. He blinks a few times to adjust before turning to look at the younger girl. 

Cassie tilts her head to the side, inspecting him. 

"You're not old", she observes. From anyone else, the comment might have been filled with judgement, but coming out of her mouth, it's not. She almost sounds impressed with it.

He grins at her. 

"Yeah, I guess", he responds, pulling his feet out of the spandex suit. "I'm sixteen, actually."

She watches as he maneuvers out of the spider-suit, then helps him put it in the backpack, holding the dog while he does so. Peter has been wearing his normal clothes under the suit and doesn't need to waste any time changing. 

Cassie doesn't want to, but Peter tells her to put the dog back in the bag, too, because the library probably doesn't want pets inside. She pouts, but understands that he's right. 

They cross the street together, Cassie holding his hand. She seems to have taken an immediate liking to him, as she begins to talk about the books she was reading in the library earlier while they're making their way back there. 

Peter listens to her rambles with a smile. 

He opens the door and holds it open for Cassie as she walks inside. It's much more quiet now that her friends aren't freaking out. 

The teenager spots Sheila the librarian helping an older couple with borrowing books, no longer having to wait with the two kids since the teens showed up. 

Peter then takes Cassie's hand again and guides her to the 'aisle', in lack of a better word, where they left Lila and Cooper with Shuri and Harley. 

The other kids are no longer sitting on the table, but opposite each other on the chairs next to it. Harley is sitting with Lila, the girl reading from a book in front of them and Harley apparently helping her do so. 

Shuri and Cooper are next to each other opposite them. Cooper has a textbook and a lined notebook in front of him, seeming to be working on something that looks scarily much like homework, despite it being summer. 

All four look up as Peter steps into their "private" part of the very public library with Cassie, and the two kids are on their feet rushing up to greet her within a second. 

Peter smiles fondly, watching their little trio as they meet in a hug. Harley and Shuri get up at a much less rushed pace, coming up to their sort-of brother. 

They stand there, side by side, looking at the younger kids as Cassie recounts the events that lead up to this point, from the lost dog to Peter walking her home, excluding the parts where he carried her as he webbed them back as Spider-man. 

"I like them", Harley surprises them all by saying. His younger sort-of siblings look at him, eyebrows raised, not having expected him to be so honest about it. 

"Can we keep them?" Peter wonders, only half-kidding. 

"You know what", Shuri says. "Let's just enjoy this, right now. I'll help Cooper with his math, Harley can help Lila read, and Peter can do whatever with Cassie."

The 'dadses' are still expected to arrive in about 40 minutes, but the teens decide to enjoy those forty minutes in peace with what is quickly becoming their honorary younger siblings. 

The six of them take turns petting the dog still hidden inside Peter's backpack, a little thing they've decided to call Yoda. 

And Peter might tell the other kids that he's Spider-man at some point... but they promise not to tell anyone, and he trusts them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quote from next chapter: "Those teens combined will either solve climate change or cause the end of the world."


	10. In which parents are introduced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have four huge tests this next week, not including homework or other assignments, so i obviously had to work on this instead of studying :)

Scott Lang and Clint Barton step through the double doors of the fancy library, both dressed in casual wear and with hair wet from having needed to shower after the mission they just went on. 

It's, as usual, a calm environment. Hopefully the kids will have been able to practice all the things they needed to improve for school. 

Before they can start looking for their children, they're approached by a dark skinned woman with very curly hair, wearing a kind smile. If she recognizes them as superheroes, she's not phased by it in the least. 

"Mr. Barton, Mr. Lang", she greets, and Clint searches his memory of this woman. Has he spoken to her before? If that's the case, then he doesn't remember it. "My name is Sheila. I've met your kids", she adds, seeing how confused they are by her knowing their names. Clint relaxes a little at that. 

"Uh, yeah, where are they?" Scott asks, looking around as if that would suddenly make them appear. 

"About that", the woman says, instantly making Clint's stomach turn itself into an anxious knot, starting to worry about what could have happened while they were left unsupervised for two whole hours. "They're fine now, so there's no need to worry about it. But Cassie disappeared for a while.." Scott turns a little pale at this. "Some teenagers showed up and watched Lila and Cooper while their friend went out to find Cassie. He was actually really fast.."

She trails off as Clint and Scott both hurry away from there before she can even finish, starting to look over the many different tables before spotting a much larger group of kids than what they remember leaving here. The group is sitting inside a short corridor lined with bookshelves, leading up to the table right under a window. 

Their own three kids are each sitting on a chair, but every one of them has a teenager next to them, looking like they're helping the younger ones with their work. 

Clint and Scott hurry closer. When they get there, Clint recognizes two of the teens from yesterday with a scoff. _It's a small world_ , he thinks. 

"Daddy!" a tiny voice says, and then Lila is getting up from her chair to come running at her dad. He lifts her up in a hug at the same time as Cassie runs up to her own dad next to them. 

Cooper hugs Clint with a little less enthusiasm, but still smiling, happy to have him back. 

The teens watch the exchange, both happy that the kids have their parents here again, but also worried that the parents will be weirded out by the teens having stayed with their kids all this time. 

Then, Clint puts his daughter down and turns to the older kids. He looks them over, giving a small smile to the two he recognizes. 

"Hello again", he greets. "I heard you helped our kids a great deal today, so I suppose a thank you is in order.."

Shuri, Harley and Peter look between each other, unsure about whether that's the thanks they're getting or if the archer will be saying something more. When he doesn't, they turn to him again. 

"They've been really good", Shuri praises, looking at where the kids are standing behind their parents, talking animatedly with each other. 

"Yeah", Harley agrees. "It's actually been nice to hang out with them."

Scott takes a step closer, looking around at their smiling faces. 

"Which of you is Peter?" he asks, focusing his gaze at the two boys at the table. 

Peter raises his hand a little uncertainly, not sure how the man knows his name. 

"Thank you", Scott breathes a sigh of relief. "You saved my daughter today. There's no way I can repay you for that, so please just know how grateful I am for you. Seriously, thank you, kid."

"Wait, aren't you two both superheroes?" Harley interrupts, giving the men a pointed look. "How often do you leave your kids here?"

"Often enough to need babysitters", Clint says, clearly hinting at something. Shuri and Peter share a knowing glance. 

"Wait, we need to know that they're good people!" Scott says suddenly. 

"Okay.. how would you describe yourself or your life in one sentence?" Clint replies, directing the question to the teens. 

"Life is a party", Harley says, intending to make the parents doubt even considering hiring him as babysitter. They're not given much time to do so, though, because Peter also answers, continuing on the same track. 

"Life is a party and I'm the piñata", Peter continues the same quote. It's... oddly accurate, the other two think as they hear him say it. 

The adults give him weird glances, but then snicker a bit. He would be a great babysitter for their kids, and the fact that all three of them seem to be very smart is only a bonus. 

"You're hired", Clint says with a grin. "If you want to be, that is."

 

Happy is cursed. Seriously, what's so wrong with taking the subway twice in one day? If they rode it there, then they can take it back, right? Apparently not. 

He likes the kids. Despite common assumptions, he's not overly irritable every time Peter Parker is involved, no, the driver is actually quite fond of his unending rambles. Happy might not have been so at first, but he has to admit that the kid grew on him. 

Combine one chatty kid with the other two, though, and you've most likely got yourself a huge problem. At least, you've got yourself a never-ending conversation to listen in on. They don't even need him to respond to anything. Not even when it's him they're talking to, instead of each other. 

They had gone to the library and been gone for a few hours, but that had apparently been long enough to give them hundreds of new stories to tell in the car ride back to the Tower. One of them will start a sentence, speak half of it, and then another of the kids begins on what sounds like a whole other story before the previous one has even finished their part. 

It's... strange, to listen to. Happy can not make sense of what they are saying, but they've had a good time. He thinks. Their opinions aren't very clear on the subject, considering every sentence seems to be left hanging, unfinished. 

"Hey. Kids", he interrupts right when Shuri says something about finding X and equations, something way too tiring to even think about, as he looks at them through the rearview mirror. They all go quiet upon hearing his voice. 

Well, that's a good trait, he guesses. Their capability to hear and listen to other people even when they are at their loudest. 

"What is it, Happy?" Peter asks, always the curious one. 

The driver picks up a paper from the seat next to his own, handing it to Peter in the back. The teen takes it with a little hesitation, holding it in his lap so that both of the others next to him can see it. 

"That's something Tony wanted you to read through. It's about the new Accords."

Peter stares at it, his expression unable to read. There's so much history behind those papers that he can't truly comprehend it. For a moment, Happy thinks he's broken the boy, but then he opens his mouth. 

"Suddenly I'm Jared, nineteen", Peter says in a deadpan voice. 

Somehow, it makes the other two laugh. Happy doesn't understand why. It's not like it was particularly funny.. or understandable. 

"I have no idea what that means, but just read the paper. It's a summary of what the new Accords are about", he finishes, turning back to look at the road exclusively. These teens will fry his brain someday. Or, in Tony's own words:

"Those teens combined will either solve climate change or cause the end of the world."

Yup. That's true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> clint talks to tony about seven chapters from now :) i'll introduce avengers one or a few at a time, so that everyone has time to react to the teens. but everyone thinks they're special for knowing about tony's kids, so they'll be surprised to find out everyone knows about them when they all finally meet :)


	11. In which New York is toured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> five teens, the lego store, and superhero conventions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't really know what to say except rest in peace, stan lee

Harley wouldn't say that he dreads the subway ride, only that he's not looking forward to it with particular glee. 

In the company of Peter and Shuri, he's currently waiting for the train that will take them around New York. He doesn't really know anything about their destination, aside from the fact that Peter and his friends have said that they want to show him and Shuri the city, considering they have never actually gone to see what cool places there are here. 

The train arrives, and the teenagers board it with various degrees of excitement. 

He definitely does not know why, but Shuri has taken a huge liking to this way of transportation. She's grinning like a mad woman right now, discreetly snapping pictures of what it looks like on the inside and sending them to someone on Snapchat. One of the names Harley can make out on her screen is 'Respectable Warrior ms Okoye ma'm', and he grins to himself upon seeing that. 

He goes back to looking seasick the moment the train gets into motion. 

Shuri likes trains a lot. Peter's pretty neutral about it, and then there's him, Harley, who does not like them a lot at all. 

"Aw, man", Peter says as he's looking down at something on his phone. "Ned and MJ got on the train before this, so they're already there."

"Where is _there_ , exactly?" Shuri asks, leaning over Peter's shoulder to peek at this phone, seeing the group chat that Peter has with his previously mentioned friends. She spots nothing about where they're going. 

"53rd street", Peter replies, not enlightening Shuri or Harley in the slightest. 

A little while later, Peter rises from his seat as the train pulls up at a new station. Shuri and Harley follow him up, and then out, taking the stairs to reach the street filled with people hurrying around in the afternoon light. 

Harley looks around a little, half expecting two unfamiliar teenagers to come up to them and introduce themselves as Ned and MJ. When nothing of the sort happens, he turns to Peter, who is still turned to his phone. 

"Okay guys", Peter then says. "They're already there. No patience, apparently."

Shuri grins, and their little trio takes off toward an unknown goal in the city. 

Their first stop is at a short enough distance from the train to not get too tired from walking, but long enough that Shuri and Harley would get lost if they tried to get there on their own. 

They pass a bunch of stores, but nothing that seems overly interesting. Once they turn to a certain street, however, Harley gets a faint idea of where they're going. 

Peter turns around so that he's walking backwards, facing the other teens, as he starts to talk. 

"So, y'know, we're going to a store because me and Ned like it, and I know Shuri does too, and MJ usually likes sketching the things they have in there", he explains, somehow managing to (narrowly) avoid walking into all the people they pass. Probably that stupid spider-sense of his. Not that it does much for his lack of common sense, though, as he has continuously proven at numerous occasions. "Harley just has to deal with it."

Their little group stops outside of the lego store, and Shuri watches the yellow interior through the glass doors with an amazed expression. Harley can't help but find it a little cool, as well, despite not being too in love with lego. 

Then, the doors swing open and two teens come rushing out, a Filipino boy and a girl with an open sketchbook in her arms, both seeming to recognize Peter. They walk straight up to their trio, the new arrivals looking between Shuri and Harley. 

First, their eyes turn to Shuri while Peter greets them in the background, but only the girl (MJ, if Harley's got it right) responds to him. 

Ned's eyes are wide as plates, looking at Shuri with admiration. 

"H-hi, miss Princess, your majesty Shuri, ma'm", he stutters out, and Shuri very nearly laughs, but refrains from doing that because these are Peter's friends, so she wants to be nice to them in order to meet some new people. Oh, and so that they can tell her embarrassing stories of Peter. You can't laugh at them if you want to earn that level of trust. 

"Just Shuri is fine", she tells him. She then glances at the other girl, who's holding the sketchbook. 

"I'm MJ", the girl says, sounding pretty chill about meeting a genius Princess from another country. 

"I thought only your friends called you that", Ned comments, looking at his friend with suspicious eyes. 

"Well..." MJ trails off to look at Shuri with a small smile. "Yeah."

Shuri smiles back at her, getting a feeling that under MJ's kind exterior, she would probably laugh and record it if someone else got in trouble, and that would be the best part about her. Hopefully, one of the boys will do something embarrassing today. 

Who is she kidding? Of course someone is gonna end up in a weird situation today. And by someone, she means Peter. Or maybe Ned. He seems awkward enough to end up in some similar situations. 

Shuri is pulled back into reality to realize that Harley has already introduced himself, and they're now entering the lego store together. 

It's pretty frickin awesome. Way more than Shuri would have imagined, with some lego statues being placed around the store, with tourists taking pictures in front of them. 

Their little group glances around. All of their gazes stop at something red and blue a bit into the store, and when they are able to make out what it is, Shuri wants to laugh. 

It's a lego statue. Slightly bigger than the real superhero, but sitting in his iconic signature pose, crouching down with his fingers looking like they're pressing down on the web shooters. They definitely got a lot of it right. 

Shuri grabs Harley and hurries forward, turning to look back at the other three over her shoulder. 

"Ned, come on!" she laughs, and the teen is a little surprised that he's included so quickly, but still glad as they rush off to take pictures with the statue. 

Peter is left standing with MJ, slightly unsure about whether or not they should follow the others to the Spider-man statue. He doesn't have to worry about conversation, though, as the girl faces him. 

"Wanna take a pic with yourself?" MJ jokes, pointing toward the others over by the lego statue, and Peter almost laughs, before freezing with the realization that she (supposedly, at least) does not know about his secret identity. He turns to look at her with a little wider eyes than usual. 

She grins, seeing his surprised expression. 

"You probably thought you were fooling everyone", MJ says. "And don't worry, you almost did. Trust me, no one else has figured it out."

He's not very calmed by that, though.. How long has she known? He voices that question out loud in a worried tone. 

"When you disappeared at Homecoming", she informs him. He very nearly frowns, but then doesn't. Come on. It's MJ, of course she's figured it out. 

"And suddenly I'm not surprised", he says. "Of course you know."

She leans her head a little to the side, observing him with an expression he can't quite place. Interested, impressed, maybe surprised? Something like that. As if he just said something that's not like him, but still so much like himself that it's just weird to hear.

Wow, that explanation was confusing.. 

"So, should we join the party?" Peter asks, gesturing toward the others over by the statue. MJ gives him one of her rare smiles, the type you only get when she's very pleased with you. His insides are warmed by it. 

She nods, and they go over to get some pictures, as well. 

Can't let the others have all the fun. 

 

Once they leave the third store they've visited this afternoon (the M&M store), the sun has started to go down, casting an orange light over the city that reflects on the glass of the many skyscrapers. It's a calmer energy among the people down on the streets as well. Not as many are rushing to get to places on time, pushing past, speaking at a fast pace into top of the line phones. 

The five teenagers are laughing, a newfound light glowing in their eyes as they make their way down the street. It's been a nice afternoon, with them getting to know each other better while also seeing a little part of what New York has to offer. There's obviously a lot more, but right now, they feel like a bit of winding down is ideal. 

Shuri brings her phone up out of her pocket, sliding to unlock it. Her eyes scan some page she's clicked in on, then she brings it down again to smile mischievously at the group around her. 

"I have an idea on where to go next", she announces, making Peter and Harley, who are walking at the front of their group, turn around. "There's a superhero convention going on not many blocks from here."

She sends the address to Peter's number, then taps him on the shoulder. "Lead the way!"

He reads what she's sent him, then shrugs before starting to walk in whatever direction they need to go to get there. 

While walking, they all start talking about the convention. 

"What even is that?" Ned asks. "What do people do there?"

"I'm more interested in why", MJ says. "Do they argue about who's the best superhero? Do they dress up? Are any superheroes ever present? Is it a regular thing?"

Shuri giggles. 

"I do not know that", she tells them. "But I found out about it from Harley, actually."

That makes the others turn to the oldest of the group, and he looks back at them briefly before turning forward again. 

"I saw something about it on my official Instagram, The Avenger's Meme Lord", he says casually, as if that title isn't the worst thing some of the teens have ever heard. 

"Isn't that where you meme Iron Man?" Ned wonders aloud. Of course, he follows the account, but has never actually considered the backstory behind it. Or how Harley gets all those pictures. 

"In my defense, I meme every Avenger I can", Harley answers with a grin. "Tony, Rhodey, Peter, sometimes Shuri.. Oh, and once I got a picture of Vision. But I actually didn't take it myself. FRIDAY found it for me."

"Wow", Ned whispers, very in awe of what his life is. Harley's living the dream. "I'm honored to be in your presence.."

They continue the conversation all the way to the convention, where Peter stops outside a building just like any other, pretty tall, looking like a fancy clump of concrete and glass. There's a spinning door to get inside, and through the glass, they see a sea of people in colorful outfits. 

There are no signs to inform on whether or not this is the superhero convention they're looking for, but they choose to enter based on what most people seem to be wearing. It can't possibly be the wrong place. 

As they enter, it turns out they're right. This is the superhero convention Harley somehow found out about. 

They spot people dressed in everything from pretty awful costumes, like some sloppily cut out cardboard wings and a pair of swimming goggles to just vaguely resemble the Falcon, to some that are actually really nice, like a woman that's wearing a simpler version of the Black Panther suit, but still with pretty cool details to it. 

"Well, we're not blending in here", MJ states. They're not the only ones with no costumes, but those who are dressed up definitely make the majority. 

She just shrugs, then grabs two drinks from a server walking by, and hands one of them to Shuri, who smiles a 'thank you' at the other girl. As they drink whatever drinks they just took, they all look around at what there is to do here. 

There's a small scene further into the room, with a white curtain hanging behind the makeshift stage, on which some people in blue, red and white costumes are standing. It's a Captain America look-alike contest, Peter realizes. 

Without really noticing he's doing so, he grabs Ned and pulls him along as he walks over there. Ned is too busy staring at everything around him, and doesn't really pay any attention to how his friend is pulling him along, or where they're going. 

Harley spots a station where you can 'design your own tech', and heads over there with a grin, intending to question everything until someone throws him out. 

Shuri decides to chat with strangers, and MJ says that she's gonna sketch the people in this place. The latter hangs back a bit, following the Princess around as she talks to people about how they made their costumes, what their views on superheroes are, and if they've ever met any in person. 

It takes three conversations until she's recognized, something she never really considered could actually happen. After all, Shuri is not the superhero of their group. 

Still. It's a younger girl, maybe ten years old, that finally points her out. 

"Dad! That's Princess Shuri! Black Panther's sister!"

That makes the closest people turn around to look at the teenager, and she tries to move away, but now everyone seems to realize who she is. 

"Oh my gosh, it really is her!"

"Did you know she's the girl that designed the Black Panther suit?"

"I just shook her hand!"

Before she knows it, she's being pulled onto the stage where five different people dressed up as Captain America are standing. They just look at her in awe, not at all annoyed that the prize award's been interrupted for them. 

She waves awkwardly at the crowd, and at the back of the room, she's pretty sure she can see Harley taking pictures of her with a teasing grin and a thumbs up. Her impulse to stick her tongue out at him is something she's gotta hold back, sadly, because there's an audience. 

Peter and Ned are at the front of the crowd, just next to the short wooden stage that Shuri's on. She tries not to look at them too much because they're absolutely loosing it. In the loudness of the room, nobody notices their unexplained laughter. 

A man in a Spider-suit comes up on stage, a microphone in his hand. He's lacking the mask over his face, though.. Probably to be able to speak without muffling his own voice. 

"Miss Shuri, your Majesty", he greets her, sounding pretty excited to get to speak to her. "We are so honored to have you here in our presence.. I don't even know what to say... Thank you for showing up!"

He holds the microphone forward so that she can take it, and she does. She turns to smile at the audience. 

"Oh, it's a pleasure being here", Shuri says, and anyone who knows her can hear the faked professionalism she's using. It's a little worrying. "But I know some superheroes, so when I heard about this convention, I just had to come!"

She hands back the microphone, and the man takes it. 

"Wow.. just, wow", he says again, and the crowd cheers. Ned and Peter are probably the loudest. "But now I just have to ask. How did you find out about this? Usually, there's a pretty specific type of accounts that post about it online, and that's the only place it's advertised."

"Yeah", Shuri says, taking the mic again. "I have a close friend, actually, who's got a lot of followers that hang out in these circles. His account is.. appealing to superhero fans, I would say. He's on Instagram. If you wanna follow him, his @ is avengersmemelord, as one word." The crowd cheers again at this, some of them probably recognizing the name. "Yeah, that's right, his pictures are great. They're actually all originals, taken by him, one of a kind."

The man in the copy of the spider-suit takes the mic.

"That's awesome! But now I just gotta ask, do you live in the Tower? How do you know this Meme Lord, and is he an intern?"

"Yes", Shuri replies with a convincing smile. "I'm living there for this summer, only, as is Harley. That's the name of the Meme Lord. He's sort of an intern, but not really, because he's there since he's my friend. We actually have another friend living there, as well, who's actually an intern of Tony Stark's. He's in the audience.." At this, the crowd cheers, once again. "Peter, please come up here!"

She's outing them on purpose, they realize. 

Of course, with the crowd shouting at Peter to get up there, he can't just not do it. At least Shuri made up a convincing story of how they know each other without giving away his other identity. 

He only has to take a step forward to get onto the stage, and Shuri holds an arm out for him as he does so, pulling the boy up to stand next to her. Awkwardly, he shuffles closer, and the fake Spider-man looks at him as if he's as royal as Shuri.. Oh, if he only knew there's a real superhero standing right next to him. 

"H-hi", Peter greets, giving a small wave. The man instantly turns to talk to him. 

"So Peter, are you really an intern?" It seems to be a rhetorical question, but Peter nods anyways. "And how old are you?"

"Sixteen", the teen replies. 

"Mr. Stark does not accept High School interns, am I right? You're an exception? Are you just that smart?"

"Uh, I, yeah.. Or, well, mister Stark accepted me after I applied, even though I knew I was too young, so I guess.."

"Oh, he's very intelligent", Shuri jumps in, still using that fake voice that appeals to every interviewer, ever. "I've worked with him. He's incredibly bright for his age."

He blushes and tries not to think about the situation, imagining himself somewhere far away. His instinct tells him that somewhere in this room, MJ is sketching someone in crisis. It's him. He's in crisis. 

Luckily, Shuri is as good at getting out of these situations as she is at getting into them. That's the biggest difference between her and Peter. They both end up at stupid places when they don't mean to get, but he only gets out of it when he's pulled into another mess that cancels the first problem out. Shuri, on the other hand, is capable of solving the first problem before causing another mess. 

But she doesn't always do that, even if it's within her capabilities. 

Lucky for Peter, today is one of the days that she decides to fix it. 

Shuri takes her phone out of her pocket, looking as if it's started to vibrate by how sudden the movement is. She looks at the screen for a few seconds, her eyes roaming over it, then puts it down again. 

"Sadly, that was our cue to leave.. Thank you so much for having me here, though!" she says to the other spider. 

He praises her some more, then bids them both goodbye as they hurry off the stage and toward the exit. Some people try to stop them on the way there, put Shuri pulls Peter along behind her as she (without pushing anyone) pushes past everyone. 

They end up standing outside on the streets again, almost panting from the effort of getting out. Shuri then starts to laugh, and at that moment, Harley comes out with Ned and MJ behind him. 

He holds up his phone with a grin, showing his latest Instagram post. Peter is not happy to see that he's the main person (more like victim) of the picture this time. 

MJ shows him her sketchbook, where a blushing Peter Parker is looking sideways at Shuri with annoyance. It's a perfect portrayal of how he felt up there, so he actually smiles a little at MJ. She's earned it more than the others have. 

After that, they all decide to return to their respective homes, with Peter, Shuri and Harley calling Happy to drive them back. They even convince him to drive MJ and Ned, even though five teens and one driver shouldn't fit in a car with only five seats. 

MJ calls shotgun, which is a good thing, because she's the only teen Happy can tolerate when they're in larger groups. He doesn't know that when he picks them up, though, since it's the first time they meet. At first, he tells them all to sit in the back, but then he counts them and admits with a groan that one has to sit in the front. 

The girl with the sketchbook seems best suited for that. 

Shuri sits in the middle of the backseat, with Ned to one side and Harley on the other. 

Peter is placed in the trunk. His sticky fingers work as his seatbelt, managing to hold him back against all the bumps in the road. 

And also, he can stick his head up behind the other three and sneak attack them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter, i'm using a very popular trope which involves Tony being worried about Peter :)


	12. In which Peter gets kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "cool motive, still murder" 
> 
> that's it that's the summary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spoiler alert: Peter gets kidnapped :)

It takes less than twelve hours for the interview with Shuri and Peter to be shown on more than one news channel on the TV. There's no information in the interview that could be particularly harmful to Tony or any of the teens, but dealing with the press is still just a little more than what he signed up for. 

Shuri hasn't been of any help at all. She started all this drama by going up on that stage, so you would imagine she can help with responding to some of the rumors that started, but no. Apparently she's only helpful when she wants to be. 

Instead, Tony is left to throw an impromptu press conference at one of the conference floors of the Tower. Despite explicitly telling all three teens that they should show up for it, not a single one is present once the reporters all start filling into the room. 

Rhodey's right behind Tony, though, and Pepper is standing next to him. 

Once the room is full, he clears his throat, despite already having all of their attention. Some flashes go off, informing him that they're starting to take pictures. 

"Hi, welcome, and all that shit you probably don't wanna hear. And you already know why we're here, too", Tony announces. "Addressing what was said yesterday at a superhero convention by my intern and his friend, the Princess of Wakanda..." Most of the cameras are flashing by now. "Yes, all three of them are currently residing in the Tower. What she said is true. I know her through the King of Wakanda, after doing business with him. I met Harley when I was dealing with the Mandarin some years ago, and recently got in touch with him again. Peter applied for an internship, and he got it. They're good kids and that's pretty much it. No more questions."

As the volume of the room rises after his speech, Tony turns his back to them and retreats with Rhodey and Pepper by his sides. 

The first thing he does once they're out of there is bring his phone out of his pocket. He instantly notices five new messages from Shuri, and six from Harley. 

With a frown, the man unlocks his phone. 

_Tony we don't know where Peter is_

_he went out to get us donuts and he's not back_

_Tony I think something happened please answer_

_I tracked his phone he's in Brooklyn now_

_ok it's been an hour me n harley r going out_

The last text was sent two minutes ago.

Cursing out loud, he hurries his steps, hoping that they haven't left the building yet. Despite the worry that's starting to eat at him from inside at the thought of something happening to his so-... intern/friend/housemate, he has to focus on not letting the other two get lost, as well. 

He runs into them at the elevator. 

Rhodey and Pepper are close behind him, shouting and asking if everything's alright, but up until now he's been blocking them out. 

Shuri and Harley stop in the middle of a step, seeing that Tony's there, and then they're running out of the elevator and talking more than all of the reporters back in the press conference room combined. 

He holds up a hand to stop them, looking between both of their frantic expressions. 

"Okay, one at a time, from the top", Tony orders. 

"Peter went to get us donuts at the cafe, y'know, just on the other side of the street", Harley starts. 

"That was an hour ago", Shuri adds. "So we called him but he never answered, I tracked his phone, and it said he's at some random building in Brooklyn. Then I called him again just now in the elevator and a random man answered."

"He said he has Peter Parker. That they found out he's an orphan interning close to Tony Stark", Harley informs, slightly hesitant to say that the reason Pete got kidnapped is because he knows Tony Stark. "Then he just hung up."

It takes Tony .3 seconds to call on his Iron Man suit, ready to blast in there and get his kid back. 

He's surprised when Shuri is the one holding him back, and he looks down at her with slightly raised eyebrows. She bites her lip. 

"Don't hurt anyone", she finally says. "Peter wouldn't want that."

Tony gives her an assuring nod before taking off. 

 

The address he has been sent by Shuri turns out to lead him to an abandoned warehouse. Isn't it always? Well, it's better than a not abandoned warehouse, considering it often ends with the place burning or exploding or in other ways ceasing to exist in the same way as before. Poor buildings. 

He asks FRIDAY to scan it for heat signatures, and is surprised when the closest one is a person sitting outside, at the back of the building. 

Tony is still waiting for demands from the villains that kidnapped Peter, because he knows they're coming, but he's hoping to catch them by surprise before they can get to that. If the person on the outside is a guard, that might not work out perfectly.. But still not the worse situation possible.

Iron Man flies to the other side of the building, charging his blasters in preparation to attack. Without hurting anyone too much, of course. He remembers his promise to Shuri. 

He almost falls out of the sky when he sees Peter Parker himself sitting on top of a dumpster, eating a sandwich. The teen looks up at Tony, obviously having heard him come from quite afar, considering he has his enhanced hearing. 

Then, Peter has the audacity to wave. 

Tony lowers himself to land on the ground in front of the teenager, ready to go on a rant about how much he made them worry, and why he's having a snack on a dumpster in Brooklyn when he's supposed to be in a whole other part of the city buying donuts. Literally visible from the windows of the Tower. Not here. 

Peter beats him to it, though.

"Don't be mad please", he hurries to say, scooting forward to jump down on the ground as Tony lands. "There were these people in dark masks that grabbed me when I was walking from the Tower, pulled me into an alley and threw me into a truck. I couldn't fight back because I was me, y'know, couldn't go show them my secret identity. Then we got here and I was chained to the wall for like, half an hour, then they let me go but they still have my phone."

Tony blanks. Literally, no thought in his head is coherent enough to voice out loud. Just... What the..?

"Uh, okay kid", he finally says. "I'll question you more later, but I should probably deal with those thugs right now.."

"Good idea, mister Stark", Peter answers with a smile. 

Tony gives him a last look before moving forward toward the brick building, getting ready to kick the door in. 

When he does so and the door has fallen to the ground with a bang, there are five people dressed in all black standing inside, in something that's supposed to be a circle but looks to be shaped more like an egg. 

They all immediately back up, multiple hands going to belts around their waists, while two put their hands up when they see him. Tony grins under the armor. 

"Hey guys", he greets them with fake cheerfulness. "Seems you've kidnapped my intern."

"We gave him back, though", one of the criminals argues. 

"Yeah. What's up with that, anyway?" Tony says to the woman, raising his arms slightly, still ready to blast them into the next century at any given moment. 

"He demanded we have him his milk warm and with a straw, and he got us to cut the crust off his sandwich. He's just too much. Seriously, we regret taking him" the guy says defensively. 

"Okaaay", Tony voices, and he sees a spark of hope light up in all the criminals since they're obviously not getting shot to death for it. Ha. They think he's gonna let this pass. "Nice story, but you still broke the law. But in honor of the kid, I won't hurt you. Police'll be here in a little while, though, just hang tight."

He notices that they're bringing out guns now, clearly not regretting it as much as they said just some seconds ago. 

Tony also knows that a certain red and blue hero is aiming at them right this second. 

A moment later, his thought is confirmed as two webs hit two of the criminals, webbing them stuck to the concrete wall behind. The others start to scramble away, and one hits the trigger of his gun, shooting all around him without aiming at anyone very well. One of his accomplices is hit instead of the heroes that he means to shoot. 

Tony lets Peter web the two criminals that are running around to the wall, one of them dropping his gun as it happens, which only leaves the shot one wailing on the hard floor. 

Spider-man webs the man's uninjured hand to the ground, letting the bleeding arm stay free. It's not like he'll be grabbing any weapons with it any time soon. 

"Nice work, Spider-man", Tony says, and Peter jumps down from the doorframe where he's been hanging until now to shoot at the thugs. He puts an arm around his young apprentice's shoulder, pulling him along out of there. 

As he said: The police will be arriving shortly, and his spider is safe now. 

 

When they get back to the Tower, Peter gets sort of ambushed by two worried teens, but they're all just glad to have him back. 

All in all, the press conference went well, Shuri might've started some drama, and as always, Peter ends up in the middle of things he's not supposed to be involved in. An average day in the life of the superhero household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just finished writing chapter 16 of this story n i can't wait to get that far in editing so i can post that :)


	13. In which Tony just really needs a nap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a new OG avenger, and a villain/hero that almost everyone loves! featuring shuri's will of steel and peter's puppy eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm super sick right now n i think i may have gotten addicted to dan & phil

It's a perfectly normal day at the Avengers Towers. Tony just got Peter back after a kidnapping, there's reporters down in the lobby trying to get a glimpse of the teenagers living here to expose them in the news, and Pepper is on the phone with some police officers that just arrested the criminals that kidnapped Peter. Overall, a pretty average day. Except maybe for the fact that nothing's been on fire yet. 

"It's been a good day", Tony says as he enters the living are of the Tower, sinking down into the couch opposite Peter, Shuri and Harley. They're currently busy playing Mario Kart, not paying him much mind. 

Needless to say, the game is intense. 

"Pretty average", Tony continues. "Except that nothing's been on fire yet."

"Uh, yeah it has", Harley objects, looking up briefly to glance at the man before turning back to the screen. Tony raises his eyebrows at him. 

"Naw, man!" Peter says. "Why'd you say that? He was fishing for it, and now you've exposed our secret!"

Busted. Well, he's already gotten them to say what he was suspecting to hear. Probably a lab fire, if he is to take a guess. 

"At least the lab isn't ruined", Tony comments, grinning to himself as the teens aren't watching. 

"But that's where the fire was?" Shuri says in confusion. She doesn't look away from the game, though, only frowns to herself. 

"Shuri!" Peter exclaims. He then sighs heavily. Despite always being seen as the least likely to keep a secret out of the three, he's apparently the only one that can see through Mr. Stark's very transparent attempts at finding out what they've done wrong. 

It's not easy to be responsible, he thinks with another sigh just as Shuri drives past him in the game. Still; they're having a good time.

But just like every other time there's sunshine, a wave of thunder just has to come rolling in and ruin everyone's day. Literally. 

It rumbles loudly outside, too loud in the bright day to be a natural change of weather here. Tony recognizes the sound with a wince, sighing as he thinks about what that most likely means. 

He hears some loud honking outside. Right on the street outside the Tower, might I add. That most likely means someone has landed there and scared some civilians. Great, another mess to deal with. Just as he was finishing with the first one... 

The teens are pretty unbothered by the chaos outside, and Tony can only imagine how that's a side effect of growing up in a world where there are superheroes on every street. 

Thor arrives through the elevator some minutes later, and it's not until then that the teenagers look away from their game. 

"I have graced you mortals with my presence in the purpose of declaring to you that my people, the Asgardians, are of residence in Norway, the place of my father's death, to honor him", Thor's voice booms through the living room before they've even gotten a good look at him. He gets out of the elevator somewhere in the middle of the sentence. "Oh, and I intend for my brother, Loki, to find shelter in this Tower until things have settled down."

That's when a figure dressed in all black and green steps out of the elevator, looking around the room with slight to no interest. His gaze does linger on the teens, though, and Tony feels like his blood runs a little colder at that. No way is he letting a murdered live in the same building as his kids. 

"Thor, did you just forget about that time he tried to murder all of us?" Tony wonders hesitantly, trying hard to avoid looking at the trickster God. 

"I did not forget that. Why, did you forget about the time the Avengers tried killing each other?" Thor responds, giving Stark a stern glare, making the question sound much more honest than it is. 

Tony'd previously had no idea that Thor possessed any knowledge of what has been dubbed as the civil war of the Avengers, considering he wasn't even in the same realm when it went down. Somehow, the God still knows of it. 

When Thor decides to look around the room for the first time since arriving, he instantly notices the teens that are watching him with wide eyes. He grins at them. 

"Hello, children", he greets them. Harley raises a hand to wave at him, still in shock. 

"Hi, Mr. Thor, God of Thunder, your Majesty, sir", Peter rambles, not sure what to call him. 

"Thor is fine, child", the God tells him kindly, at the same time as Loki moves a little closer to get a better look of the kids. 

"Okay, Mr. Thor", Peter says, awestruck. 

Tony clears his throat and crosses his arms in front of him, not sure how to act in this situation. On one hand, he can tell the kids aren't in the least intimidated by the presence of the Trickster. On the other hand, there's no way the God living in the same Tower as himself. 

He's just about to say something else when Peter turns to look at Loki with an interested glint in his wide eyes. 

"Aren't you the one who tried to take over New York a little while ago?" the teenager asks, not sounding very scared despite knowing exactly who he's talking to. 

Loki is quiet for a second, considering. 

"Yes." He anticipates another question, and clenches his jaw, expecting it to be some jab at himself or a comment about how villainous he is. 

"Cool", is all Peter says. Next to him, Shuri's mouth is still slightly open, shocked to be in the presence of not only one, but two Gods. Peter continues. "You have illusion powers, right? And ice powers?" Loki nods his confirmation hesitantly. "That's so awesome! Can you please show us something? Maybe in a little while?"

The God nods uncertainly again, not sure why this smaller human is so impressed with him. After all, he tried to take over their planet once. That's not exactly how a friendly being would act. 

"Well, I suppose I should get on with my journey, then", Thor speaks. "You will be missed, brother."

"Hold on just a second, here", Tony interrupts, not realizing when it got decided that Loki would be staying here. He casts a quick look at the teens to see what they're doing. 

Suddenly, Shuri is standing up, putting her hands on her hips and looking up at Tony. 

"Tony Stark", she says. "Loki of Asgard is staying in this Tower for a few days, on one of the guest floors, and you won't have to see him until he's leaving with Mr. Thor some days from now. And he is going to show us his powers but you don't have to worry because he's cool now. And you will not argue."

Shuri's will of steel combined with Peter's puppy eyes is a force way too pure for this world, something even the most terrible of villains would be unable to resists. So, if they can't, there's no reason to expect Tony Stark to be able to. 

He relents. Thor leaves. Tony heads immediately to his lab after getting the God to promise not to harm any of the teens, and to stay on his floor as long as he's not in the company of anyone else. 

The God doesn't actually seem to be looking to cause trouble. He's here to stay out of the way for the Asgardians as they're moving in, and he's prepared to stay out of the way for the residents of the Tower, as well. 

As soon as Stark leaves, Loki thinks of heading to the floor he's been assigned to stay on. Thanks to the teens, he doesn't get further than thinking about it, though, because suddenly they're all coming up to him. 

"Mr. Loki, sir, God of Mischief, Trickster.." Peter trails off, not sure what to call the man. Loki gives a small smile at him. 

"Call me Loki. No mister, no sir, just Loki."

"Okay Loki", Peter replies. He looks like an excited puppy when he looks up at Loki, which is still a strange feeling to the God. 

"What is your age?" Loki asks instead, looking over at the brunet kid, trying to distract himself from how they're acting around him. Not as if he could kill them at any moment.. Almost like they trust him. 

"16", Peter answers. He then gestures to the girl. "She is, as well, but Harley here is seventeen."

"16 centuries? You don't look it." 

"No, no, 16 years!" Peter corrects. 

"Infant", Loki whispers, half disgusted and half amazed. Harley snickers at this, finding it funny. Loki shakes his head. He's never gonna understand how these mortals work. Then, the man meets the teen's eyes again. "Why do you live in Stark Tower? How did he meet you? I thought this used to be a home to the other heroes."

"I'm Spider-man", Peter says casually. For someone with a secret identity, he's finding a little too easy telling people he just met. But it's not like Loki has many contacts on Earth, so there's not really anyone he could tell. 

Loki peers at him curiously, having heard that Tony is Iron Man because he wears Iron. 

"Do you dress... in spiders?" he asks unsurely. It seems a bit impractical to do so.. but what does he know?

Shuri chuckles. 

"No, he doesn't", she says for him. "But his symbol is a Spider, and he has powers because a spider bit him once."

Oh, wow. Earth does have scary creatures, if something as small as a spider can turn humans into hybrids. 

Loki turns to the teen in question. 

"What are those powers, exactly?"

Peter looks around the room, then walks up to one of the walls, placing a hand on it. He then puts his other hand up, and a foot. Before Loki knows what's happening, the teenager has all hands and feet on the wall and is climbing up it. 

He reaches the ceiling, on which he places his hands and then hangs from it, grinning at the God of Mischief. Peter lets go of it and lands on the ground, where he was standing only some short moments ago. 

Nope. Loki will never understand humans. 

 

The next time he sees the teenagers is a few hours later. He's sitting in the library that he discovered was on his floor, reading from a book that in all honesty appears rather boring, but not having anything better to do. 

That's before the three children come trudging in, smiles way too huge for Loki's liking plastered on their faces. He doesn't look up from his book until they've stopped in front of him, clearly expecting his attention. 

When he does look up, the teens start talking. 

"Earlier, when you got here, you said you could show us your powers", Harley starts.

"We would really like to see them", Shuri continues, looking expectantly at the God. Loki doesn't physically smile, but hearing that they were actually serious about that does lighten his mood. 

He shuts the book and places it on a table next to the green couch in which he's sitting, then moves to stand up with a huff of breath. They're all still looking at him. He does not know why, but they're still not showing any signs of dislike, or fear, or discomfort. It's as if he does not bother them at all. 

Loki makes a fake version of himself, creating the illusion that there are two of him. 

"Wow!" Peter exclaims, looking between the both Lokis. "That's so cool!"

Loki lets the fake one fade away, leaving only one version of himself alone with the teens. He smiles mischievously at them. 

"Loki, could you tell us some stories?" Shuri then asks, and the God is once again amazed by the fact that they have not left yet. Maybe they really don't see him as a murderer.. But then, how _do_ they see him?

"Yeah!" Peter agrees quickly, turning to look at the God with what he doesn't know are the most irresistible puppy eyes of the universe. "Maybe something from when you were younger."

"Oh, I have a story I think you'll love", the God says with a grin, thinking about that time he turned into a snake to stab Thor. 

 

Tony stops by on Loki's floor just to make sure that it's not in flames. Not that Loki is even the most likely person to set anything on fire, but just.. You can never be too sure. 

And also, the teens _did_ say that they wanted to spend time with Loki, so if they are on this floor, things might be getting out of hand pretty quickly. 

He looks into the small kitchen, and then stops outside the library, where he hears voices coming from. The sigh he lets out is quiet, but still holds a lot of discontentment. Of course the teens just have to be here, of all places. 

"And after I stabbed him, I obviously had to run away", Tony hears Loki's voice from inside the library. 

"Did he die?" a small voice that Tony recognizes as Peter wonders, and Tony only thinks briefly about what kind of story this is before listening to the next person speak. 

"Of course he didn't, dumbhead", Shuri says. "You met Mr. Thor today."

Okay, well now Tony is definitely concerned. Did Loki for real stab Thor? Or are they talking about the fight in New York? Because the older man can faintly recall that Loki stabbed his brother at some point during that. 

"Well, no, he didn't die", the God continues. "But when you stab someone who's not your brother... Or otherwise someone close to you, then you make sure that they're indeed dead after you stab them."

"Yes, Mr. Loki", Peter replies, and Tony judges that as a good moment to step in. 

"Peter, no!" he objects, getting inside and walking briskly toward the group over by the wall at the other side of the room. 

Loki is sitting casually on the couch he has there, with Harley on the back of it right next to him. Peter is sitting on Loki's other side, fully turned to the God, with his legs pulled up on the couch under him. Shuri, for some reason, isn't occupying the part of the couch that's empty, but has instead chosen to sit on the floor with her back leaning against the couch. 

They all look up as the billionaire enters. He glances between them, checking to make sure that they're all okay. 

"Can you believe I got kidnapped earlier today?" Peter breaks the silence, earning himself some weird stares for it. "And yesterday, we went to a superhero convention. It feels like weeks ago.."

Shuri looks to be just as shocked by that, despite the fact that the logical part of her brain already knew that information. She stares straight ahead with wide eyes, not blinking once. 

Loki waves a hand in front of her face but she does nothing. A second later, a smile breaks her seriousness, though. 

"Okay..." Tony says, looking between the others uncertainly. "I just came to check in. Oh, and please, no more guides on how best to stab someone. They've had enough adventure for today, I think."

 

Thor comes two days later to pick up Loki and go to what they call 'New Asgard'. The thunder comes without warning, just like last time, causing a slight bit of panic on the street outside. The God walks in through the elevator with a bright smile on his face only a minute later, seeing that the residents of the Tower have all gathered in the living area, Loki included. 

"Hello brother", Thor greets him. "And greetings, Stark. Hello, young warriors."

For some reason, this causes Harley to feel inclined to throw a lighter into the hallway next to the elevator and scream 'street smarts!', making absolutely no sense at all. Except to the other teens who all giggle.. and Loki, who manages to hide his smile from his brother, but Tony sees it. 

Harley and Shuri hurry off into that same corridor, most likely to stop the lighter from starting any new fires. 

"Well, I guess this is goodbye", Loki says, turning to the two remaining ones. Tony just nods seriously, but Peter actually looks a little sad that the God is leaving. He seems to hesitate about something, before stepping forward toward Loki. 

"I'm gonna miss you Loki", the teen says honestly, looking up into the face of the trickster. He then puts his arms around Loki in a hug, that the God is confused about at first, but then hesitantly returns. 

"You raised a great son, Stark", Thor comments, watching the scene in front of him with a fond smile. 

The other two pull apart, and Loki turns his face away to not let them see him having... Emotions. Yeah, ew.. Unbelievable betrayal by his own emotions. Absolutely frickin disgusting. 

"Yeah, I sure did", Tony replies and moves forward to put an arm around Peter's shoulders as the teen moves back from the God. 

With that, the two brothers disappear. 

 

Shuri and Harley come running back into the room, and look around for the God just to realize that he's gone. 

"Aw, no!" Shuri exclaims. "We missed it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tony, dr strange, clint, loki, n others will all meet in chapter 18 because of something the teens do.. ;) thanks for reading!


	14. In which responsibility is tested

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> one word: Pupper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> daily mood: two bisexual girls trying to talk about marriage in french class without using the words 'husband' or 'wife' even though those are the only words for partner they know in french (unrelated to the chapter but whatever)

Ever since the teens met a blue, two-headed "wolf" (really, it was more like a chihuahua) with Wong and Dr. Strange, they've been asking for a dog to keep at the Tower. Finding Yoda the dog when they were with Cassie back at the library had only increased their want for a new pet. Cassie had brought Yoda with her home, so the teens definitely miss him. 

At first Tony said no because they don't actually live there all year, so they can't have a pet here. Then, they came up with a plan on who got to have the dog during which months for the rest of the year, basing their plan on the fact that all three of them were gonna spend every break with Tony. He realized that their plan would actually work and had to bring up his next argument. 

So he said that getting a dog could actually be pretty complicated. Honestly, he doesn't know how it works, but he assumes that. You have to find a dog that likes you (preferably one that isn't blue), and then there's the whole issue of dog-proofing the Tower. Naturally, the teens showed him a webpage for some animal shelter in New York, where they're bound to find someone they like. 

Time for the third, and definitely strongest argument: They're just not responsible enough. Yeah, they like to call themselves responsible every time they avoid doing something stupid, but those are rare occurrences and not enough to take care of a dog. Those kids can barely keep themselves safe, so how are they gonna take care of a dog?

That's when they came up with a brilliant plan: They are all going to volunteer at the animal shelter, for as long as it takes for them to prove themselves responsible enough for a pet. At least they think it's a brilliant plan. Tony isn't so sure it will be successful, but he has still agreed to it. 

Today marks the first day they'll be volunteering at the shelter. Basically, they just care for the animals that are there, most likely the dogs considering that's what they asked to do. 

They've already created a feeding and walking schedule for their future dog, to prove even more how suitable pet-owners they are. It does help their case, but not enough to get to bring a dog home on the first day. 

Tony drives them there himself. It's not a long drive, but he still wants to see for himself that it's a good place. Peter, Harley and Shuri all sit in the backseat, leaning over each other while talking loud enough to take up as much space as ten people. You wouldn't believe there are only three of them back there. 

After ten minutes or so, Tony pulls up to park on the street outside the shelter. 

He then turns around to face the teens, who have noticed where they are and are pretty much shaking with excitement. 

"Remember", Tony says to them, using his serious voice. "You have to be responsible with this, okay? That's the key word here. Responsible. Don't forget it."

He then turns around again, listening to the kids as they get out through the door, taking up their chatter once again after having heard his little warning. 

Was it a warning? They don't know. Whatever. Today will probably be a great day, and maybe in a few days or something, they will get to adopt a dog...

 

"We can't just hide him from Tony!" Harley hisses, taking the dog from Shuri with a lot of carefulness, despite his not-as-friendly tone. "It's a living being. There's no way Tony won't notice him!"

The dog looks at them with his tongue out, looking really happy to be with them. All teens look back at him with adoration. Despite the fact that the responsible action right now would be to let the dog stay here at the shelter until Tony actually agrees to letting them get one, but they just can't do that. Nope. 

"Well, we gotta hide him", Peter states the obvious, still looking at the dog. It's so fluffy, and not very big at all... 

"We also have to continue to prove we are responsible enough for a dog", Shuri adds, eyes on the dog as Harley holds it. He has an open backpack hanging from one of his arms, ready to hide the dog in as soon as they can decide what to do. 

"Maybe we should tell Mr. Stark that we'll walk home today", Peter suggests, finally tearing his eyes from the adorable little creature. They've already decided to name him Pupper. It was Peter's suggestion, and he's honestly very proud of it, because the pup is very much a fresh addition to their otherwise very boring lives-.. Or, eh, never mind. "We kinda have to. And we need to get a leash."

"Yeah", Harley agrees, turning to see what there is in the room they're currently in. It's just outside the rooms with all the animals at the shelter, the room you first enter when getting here. They sell animal stuff in this place, so they must have a leash to buy somewhere. 

Shuri walks up to one of the shelves with dog things and takes one of the leashes, holding it up so that both boys can approve of it, which they do by nodding. She then holds it out to Pupper, who barks happily. 

"Guess that's a yes for that", she smiles at the dog, then walks up to the register to pay. While she does that, Harley and Peter take Pupper to the front door, as Peter takes up his phone, ready to message Mr. Stark. 

"What should I say?" he asks, then starts typing anyway. Harley looks over his shoulder with Pupper, commenting when something should be changed and humming his agreement to the other words. 

Half a minute later, Shuri joins them and Peter shows her the message. She nods solemnly, and he sends it to let Tony know that they don't need to be picked up without sounding too mysterious about it. Then, he puts his phone back in his pocket. 

Shuri has already fixed the leash so that it's ready to be used, and she gets closer to Harley, who still has the dog in his arms. She puts it on Pupper's collar and then takes a step back. 

Harley puts Pupper down, and then they open the door to walk home. 

 

They walk in through the main entrance but then head toward the private elevator instead of the one for employees and such. A scanner lights up at them as they walk into the private corridor, and they're greeted by the voice of FRIDAY. 

"Welcome back Peter, Ms. Shuri, and Meme Lord", her voice comes from somewhere on the ceiling. There's no mention of the dog they're so obviously entering with, so they suppose that's a success. For now, at least. 

There's no Tony or Pepper or Rhodey in the elevator once the doors open, and they all silently let out sighs of relief upon seeing that. Dealing with one of the adults right now would not be too pleasant. 

All four of them enter the elevator with Pupper hidden inside the backpack that Harley is still carrying. He got to walk home, though, but it's no longer safe to let him outside. 

It's days like these that the teens truly appreciate that they don't share a floor with anyone except each other. Also the fact that it's almost never someone else comes to their floor... the last time was probably when Colonel Rhodes came here because he was babysitting them and they all disappeared. Good times. 

The elevator doors open and they all look around suspiciously, making sure that there truly is no one else here that will bust them. 

Then, they all step out into the little "living room" part of their floor. It's still furnished pretty basically, with some clean couches and a boring table. There's not even a TV here, which is why they spend so much time on the communal floor instead. 

Tony has agreed to let them redecorate, though, but it seems they can never find the motivation to do so. Maybe they could turn it into a corner for the dog. 

Well, that'll have to wait, considering they have to keep him hidden until Tony finally agrees to let them get a dog, a process that could take a while. This plan most likely won't work. 

"Now all we have to do is keep working at the shelter while also hiding Pupper in the same Tower that Mr. Stark lives in, all while dealing with all the responsibilities of having a pet", Peter says as he looks at Harley picking up the dog from his backpack, then setting him down on the floor. 

They all watch as Pupper runs around, sniffing at everything, sometimes turning back to look at the teens with some hesitation before moving on to explore the next thing. He's honestly one of the best things to ever happen to them. They can't let Tony, or anyone else for that matter, take him away.

As they all realize that, they turn to each other with newfound determination. 

"We're not giving up on him", Shuri claims, voicing all of their thoughts, and the others don't even need to say anything for her to understand that they agree with that. 

"Whatever it takes", Harley states. 

 

"Harley, did your backpack just move?"

Tony blinks a few times, trying to make sense of what he just saw. 

The teens haven't left their floor for a few hours. Since they got home, actually. That made him worry, for obvious reasons, and so he decided to come down to check on them. 

The three of them are sitting spread out over the two couches, with a backpack that's probably just been thrown on the floor next to them when they got home. That's all normal, but Tony could've sworn that he just saw the bag move around. 

Harley looks up with a grin. 

"How much coffee have you had, to start hallucinating like that?" he asks cheekily. Tony just scoffs at that, then takes a step backwards, into the elevator, deciding that he feels safe leaving again. 

"He's just messing around", Shuri says, sounding a little annoyed with her friend. "It's a moving toy we're gonna pick apart later. But I thought it had been turned off."

She directs the last part to the two boys with a pointed stare, trying to make sure that they understand that she blames them for that. 

Tony chuckles as the doors close between them. Maybe they're actually capable of going one day without doing something they're not meant to. That certainly gives him hope for the future. 

At the same time, on the other side of the elevator door, the teens all let out the breaths they were holding in anticipation for when Tony would realize they were hiding something. To their luck, he's still unaware of the new, secret resident of the Tower. 

"That was close", Harley comments, looking at the other two. 

"Yeah", Peter agrees. "Good thinking, Shuri, there's no way he thought you were lying."

 

The next day, Tony is sitting in the kitchen, sipping his coffee, when the teens decide to come up and join him. It's about an hour until they have to leave for their work as volunteers at the animal shelter, giving them enough time to get ready without stressing. 

For some reason, they still eat super fast. Tony looks up at them multiple times during the meal. Usually, there's much more talking and much less eating, which almost always ends with them sitting at the table for a lot longer than they should have to if they'd eaten at a normal pace. 

Today, it takes fifteen minutes before their little trio is rushing out of there like a whirlwind. Tony isn't sure they were ever actually here. 

He frowns, but lets them be. It's not a bad thing that they managed to perform a single task in such reasonable time for once in their lives. He has to say, though. There's something fishy going on with them. 

Or, maybe it's just that they are trying very hard to prove themselves responsible enough for a pet. Yeah, that has to be it. He'll go with that option for now.

But when Tony arrives at their floor some minutes later, it's to see that chaos reigns in there. Pillows are strewn all over the wooden floor, feathers mixing with cotton over it all, like sprinkles on top of a cake. 

What's most surprising isn't the state of the room, and nor is it the fact that all the teens are running around. Harley stands on one of the couches with one of the few whole pillows in his hands, Peter is at this moment jumping over the other couch, and Shuri seems to just have caught what shocks Tony the most. The dog. 

He stares at the scene for a few seconds, and can hear the chaos die down around him. The teens all stop what they're doing to stare at who just arrived. 

"Aw, no", Peter says in his small voice. "Now all our efforts were for nothing."

Tony still doesn't say anything, just keeps staring. The dog in Shuri's arms stare right back at him, tongue out and tail wagging. 

After what feels like an eternity (at least to the teens), he finally opens his mouth. 

Not a sound comes out though, because he's cut off by the dog escaping Shuri's grasp to jump down at the floor and come running up to Tony. It stops by his feet, wagging its tail, and barks twice before jumping a little on the spot. 

He quietly bends down to pet it. The teens all watch the exchange, scared, but waiting for what his reaction will be like. 

"What's its name?" Tony asks, his voice a perfectly neutral tone. There are a few seconds where the only sounds are the ones that come from the dog, where he's still very excited to meet the older man. 

"Pupper", Shuri then replies. 

Tony takes a few more moment to pet Pupper, before letting the dog run back to the teens again, ending up by Peter's feet until the teenage boy picks him up. 

The older man then turns to face the teens, finally, and looks at them with a glance that tells them absolutely nothing about what he's thinking. Then, he once again opens his mouth to speak, this time with no interruptions. 

"I expect you to be the ones walking him", he starts, and can see the hope light up their faces as he continues. "You three make sure he's fed, and his home is on your floor. Definitely no visits to the floors for Stark Industries, or Pepper will have my head, but I'll pay for whatever Pupper needs."

If Tony suffocates in the hug that the teens give him, it's worth it. It's all worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's a multiple chapter story arch starting in chapter 17, but the next part is leading up to that so u can kinda say it starts then :)


	15. In which secret refugees are friendly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i think i can summarize this chapter in four words: Wakanda, Monopoly, & bad ideas :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my updating has no schedule.

"Mark your calendars, people. The iron kids are leaving the city!" 

"Or, potentially, the country!" Peter adds. 

"Or, if we're real lucky, the planet!" Shuri chimes in. The boys look at her weirdly. "What? I wanted to add something, too."

It's currently around lunchtime. Tony has only known Pupper for a few hours by now, but if anything happened to him, he would kill everyone in the room and then himself. Just kidding.. that's only what Peter whispered to the other teens after seeing how Tony let Pupper follow him around with a loving smile. Fond of the pet already. 

And only some moments ago, Tony entered the living room where the kids are hanging out to tell them that he has to go away for some business and that they'll have to join him, which is what somehow led them to the previous exchange. 

Tony raises his eyebrows as he listens to them talking about leaving the planet. That's a discussion he's almost forgotten by now... Let's not get them started on that again. 

He clears his throat to regain their attention, and the teens turn away from each other to look at him. They don't even know where they're going but they're still excited. 

"So", Tony begins. "I've done what I can with the Accords and need to go over them with someone else from an outside perspective. That person is King T'Challa, and we're traveling to Wakanda later today."

At the loud celebration that ensues, he turns around and walks out of the room. The teens don't even notice, being busy with shouting about all the things they're gonna get to do and see, each one trying to be heard over the others, which leads to the others being even louder. It's an evil cycle... well, for everyone else, at least. The teens seem unbothered by the volume at which they're yelling. 

Pupper tries to bark louder than them, too. It seems he fits right in here in the Tower. 

"We have to bring him with us to Wakanda!" Shuri shouts, pointing to the dog on the floor next to them. Peter gives her a thumbs up and Harley nods. Can't leave the dog behind. 

 

Everyone is ready to go some hours later. Prepared to stay a night in Wakanda, the city they've heard so much about. Or, in Shuri's case, the country she calls home. 

Instead of riding the quinjet that's usually used for Avengers business, they take a private jet leaving from a real airport. It takes a little longer that it would have to simply leave directly from the Tower, but the teens still have an adventure getting there... But when don't they?

They don't have to go through the usual security, instead going through special lines that take them past everything much quicker than otherwise. Peter still manages to loose his backpack and then runs back to the security check where he left it, all the while Shuri and Harley chase after Pupper, whose leash they somehow let go off, letting him free. It's especially risky, considering you're probably not meant to have animals running around freely like that at the airport.. or any animals at all. 

Peter finds his backpack right where he thought it was, and Pupper runs straight into Tony, who picks him up and refuses to let the teens deal with the dog for the rest of the trip. 

Their energy doesn't diminish because of that, though. They still talk each other's ears off, which only continues when they sit on the plane, their three seats a little bit away from Tony's. 

By the time they reach Wakanda, their chatter still hasn't died out. The only reason they stop is to stand up and look out the window as they pass through the barrier. Wakanda becomes visible to them, then, and both boys let out impressed sounds. Shuri stands next to them with pride, beaming as her home comes within sight. 

The plane lands in front of the palace. Everyone is quick to move out. As they walk off the plane, they see that there's a welcoming audience that has gathered, partly because Tony's there for his business with T'Challa, partly because it's Shuri and her friends that are coming. 

Harley and Peter just stare, wide-eyed, at the King and the mother of both him and Shuri, with the impressive guards standing around them. Shuri greets her brother and mother with a hug. 

After they pull away from each other, Shuri takes a step back to introduce them. 

"Mother, T'Challa, these are my friends", she says, gesturing to Harley and Peter, the latter giving a small wave. "You can talk to them later, because I'm going to show them around Wakanda."

The King and his mother only have time to give the boys some smiles, before they're rushing along after Shuri as she takes off. Pupper is left behind to stay at the palace with whoever has time for him, most likely the Queen, considering most people will be in meetings all the time. 

Shuri takes them out of the city. They pass through streets bustling with life, with musicians in every corner and a lot of stands selling different things. It's truly a magical place, and the Princess has to stop multiple times to let the other teens marvel at something they see on their way to wherever they're going. 

When they get out to the country, the first noticeable thing they see is a lake. It's wide, looking very pretty in the afternoon light. There are some huts on the field right by them, and some kids running outside, playing. They also see a couple of goats wandering around. 

Shuri doesn't lead them to the huts, though. Not the lake either. She turns to the trees on the edge of the field, pointing to them with a grin. 

And there they spot a tree house. 

They don't even need the girl to tell them to go there, but simply start running over to it on their own. Shuri follows behind with a grin as they reach the two trees between which the house is built. They grow very close together, leaving a perfect space for the little building. There's also a rope ladder going down from it which you use to get up. 

Harley reaches the ladder first, and Peter, having no patience whatsoever, starts to climb directly on the tree instead with his weird spider-powers, coming up to the top before his brother. He climbs up and then stands there, grinning down at Harley. Shuri is close behind him. 

There's a wooden table with three chairs around it standing over by the opposite wall from where they came up, with a bunch of things scattered across it. One of the things is a game of Monopoly. 

"You wanna play?" Shuri asks, having climbed up behind them and looking in the direction they're turned. The others nod with grins on their faces. 

 

"You've betrayed me more times than you've betrayed the Duolingo owl!" Peter tells Harley, very much not satisfied with how the game is progressing. 

"Ouch, I felt that in my heart", Shuri comments with a grin. 

They've gotten pretty far in the game, and so far, Harley is surprisingly in the lead. Or maybe not so surprisingly. Okay, in all honesty, none of them is surprised at all. He has a talent for keeping them organized and has some experience working alongside Pepper Potts for some time earlier this year. 

Then, Shuri stands up and looks at the others. 

"Okay, we all know Harley is winning", she says, and Peter stands up as well. 

"Yeah", he continues. "So we don't have to finish."

Harley grins at them, very proud of the fact that he, a regular person, just beat a literal Princess and a superhero in a game of Monopoly. 

They all help put it away again, placing it on the table where it was at first. 

"Want some mint icecream?" Shuri asks when they're done with that, gesturing to the mini-fridge that stands in one of the corners. 

Peter grimaces. 

"Noo. The spiderbite ruined mint for me." 

Harley turns his head up from whatever paper he's reading on the messy table. 

"That's not surprising", he comments. The younger boy squints at him. "What, you didn't know?" 

"Didn't know what?" 

"That spiders are allergic to peppermint." 

"Wait, are we talking peppermint or all sorts of mint?" Shuri wonders. 

"Is there a difference?" Peter retorts. 

"You seriously don't know? You'd think, after realizing you inherited some powers from the spider that bit you, you'd do some research on spiders." Peter just looks at Harley with a grin, who in turns gives the younger boy an incredulous look. "For real? That never crossed your mind?" 

Peter shakes his head 'no'. He then catches sight of something that looks metallic under the table, casting a blue glow over the floor. The boy points to it, diverting both his own and the other's attention away from the mint ice-cream. 

"What's that?"

Shuri comes closer to them, and then bends down to reach for the object. She pulls it out and holds it up so that the other two can see it. 

It looks like a short rope, maybe three feet long, but it glows like metal and has two blue lights glowing at both ends of it. None of the teens have any idea what it is except for Shuri, but it seems like a fancy rope to bind things together. 

"The ends can stick to clothing. It's used for people to tie themselves to someone else, like you do when you climb a mountain", she explains. 

"Can we try it?" Peter asks excitedly, walking up to her to get a better look at it. 

She doesn't respond, only hits Peter with one of the ends of it, and it instantly sticks to him. He opens his mouth, impressed with it. There's no added pressure to the spot where it's fixed on his shirt, but still appears as if it's holding on to his shirt very tightly. 

Shuri hands him the other end of it and he inspects the thing a little closer. Then, while she has her face turned slightly away from him, he puts the other part on her shirt. She looks down at it and then up at her friend with a grin. 

"We're Siamese twins", the Princess claims, and Peter scoffs. 

"You're not the one I share a birthday with", he comments. 

Harley looks at them with knitted eyebrows, thinking deeply about why two chaotic teens would tie themselves to each other like that. What logical reason do they have? Basically, all it creates is chaos times two. Two chaotic teenagers for the price of one.. or something along those lines. 

"Well, how do you take it off?" Peter wonders, pulling at the metallic rope without using any real strength. It doesn't move an inch. Not that he had expected it to, because that would only mean it can't serve a real purpose since it just falls of all the time. 

Shuri frowns, and the other two look at her expectantly. She shrugs with an indifferent expression. 

"There's a second rope that's a bit thinner. It can pull this rope off without ruining clothes or anything", the girl replies. "But that piece is missing."

Harley looks out through the only window of the tree house. Actually, it's just a window-like opening in the wall with no glass or anything, but he's still gotta have that dramatic effect as he sighs and looks out at the lake. It's perfectly fitting for his mood as he thinks about their stupidity. 

Peter and Shuri turn to look out the window, too, thinking he's actually watching something. He scoffs at them behind their back as they walk up to the opening together, looking at what's on the outside.

"You're just not gonna break free from that chain, then?" Harley wonders, thinking they've given up on it. The younger two turn to him, Shuri with a thoughtful expression and Peter with a grin. 

They face each other for a few moments, before glancing at Harley again, this time with matching, devious expressions. 

"Oh, we're gonna get it off", Shuri says, and Harley is not at all calmed by that. 

 

"Okay, on the count of three, we jump!" Peter instructs, turning so that he's ready to jump of the branch on the opposite side as Shuri. That'll place the rope between them in the middle while they fall to the ground, and hopefully, the branch can break it. 

Under the branch they're standing on is the lake. It stretches out over the water, and they chose it just so that if they fall, they'll only end up in the water. 

"Guys", Harley shouts, interrupting their count down. He's standing on the ground by the base of the tree, watching them with an amused expression. "It won't break, I'm telling you."

"Oh, we're not breaking it", Shuri replies from her spot on the branch next to Peter. "We're testing how much it can take. Testing the product, so to say."

Then, they start their countdown together, shouting it out obnoxiously loud. Three, two, one...

"Jump!" they finish together, and each one jumps down on one side of the branch. Of course the rope stops both of their falls, also pulling them together so that they hit each other, hanging under the branch maybe two feet over the water. 

The branch makes an alarming creaking sound, and then it breaks. 

Peter and Shuri fall the short distance left to the water with shrieks, before breaking through the surface of it and disappearing. 

Harley hurries forward to the edge of the water, looking down at the spot they just fell in. 

Only a few seconds have passed, and none of the teens has reappeared, when the blur of a man rushes past the oldest kid. He has a man bun and is wearing some sort of thing that looks like a rug around his arm, that much is identifiable. 

The man dives into the water after the lost teens, who have probably been weighed down by the branch under which the rope is stuck... and them with it, considering they're each attached to one end of the rope. 

Harley can't see what happens under the water, but the man breaks the surface of it once more after only some short moments. Shuri and Peter come up on his right side right after, gasping for air. For some reason, they're smiling widely, looking at the man with both interest and surprise. 

The trio swims up from the water, climbing up onto the ground again. Harley gets a better look at the man as he helps the other two up, noticing that one of his arm's is missing. The boy frowns, feeling like he's seen him before. 

Shuri and Peter have recovered a bit from the shock of falling into the water as they stand there on the grass, shivering. The man's sudden appearance is still slightly mystical to them. 

"Come with me", the stranger says. "I'll borrow you some clothes."

He turns around and starts walking toward the huts with the three teens following closely behind him. As they walk, Peter leans in and whispers to Shuri. 

"I didn't know Bucky Barnes was in Wakanda."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gasp*   
> ooh, i split the chapter into two parts :)


	16. In which the teens make a friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> three teens and bucky..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yesterday i visited a school i might go to next year and they had a bathroom that said 'non-binary' which just made me really happy because it seemed like such an inclusive place :)

_"I didn't know Bucky Barnes was in Wakanda."_

Oh, right. Ex-assassin who went through lots and lots of brainwashing with Hydra, now kind of a fugitive... Yeah, that's why Harley recognized him.

Shuri doesn't reply, but they continue following the man, the two younger of the three kids shivering slightly all the way to the huts. There's a curtain hanging down the entrance instead of a door.

He leads them inside. They all have to bend down to enter, and then, they're in his hut.

There's a simple bed and a dresser opposite it, right next to the door. It's where Bucky turns upon entering, then opens it to pull out some not-wet pieces for the teens. He hands one pile to Shuri and another to Peter, who accepts it with a grateful smile.

Bucky and Harley move outside to give them some privacy while they get changed. Neither one of them speaks, but Harley does cast some glances at the man. He looks perfectly fine for someone who just rescued some teens from drowning after they did some stupid shit they definitely shouldn't have been doing. 

Shuri and Peter come outside to join them a minute or so later. They each have a pair of loose pants on, with patterned shirts that actually look really comfortable. Both teens had to roll the legs up on their pants, but that's about all complaints they can possibly have with these clothes.

"Thank you, Mr. Barnes, Winter Soldier, White Wolf, sir", Peter says, unsure about what to call him.

"Bucky, kid", the man tells him with a fond smile.

"Sorry, Mr. Bucky Barnes, sir."

"No, just Bucky is fine.." the man trails off, looking between the teens, seeming like he's thinking hard about something. "But what are you doing here? And why were you in the water?"

Shuri gives the other two a quick glance, then turns to Bucky to explain it.

"We came to Wakanda with Tony Stark, so that he can work with my brother on the Accords. I showed Peter and Harley..." at this, she gestures to the boys, "my tree house. Me and Peter accidentally stuck ourselves to each other with a metal rope, and then we thought the tree branch could break it, but we fell into the water instead."

Bucky chuckles at this, finding the story a little humorous. He's not the most warm person toward people he doesn't know, but there's still something in his eyes as he looks at the teens. Something close to fondness. Maybe saving people from drowning gives you a little interest in their lives. 

In the background, one of the sheep starts baaing. Peter looks at them with an impressed expression before turning back to Bucky with sparkling eyes. 

"You have sheep? That's so cool!" the teenager gushes. 

"Yeah", Bucky tells him. "That one right there is called Steve."

The three kids give him a look, clearly recognizing the name, and the man hesitates a little. 

"Well... I named them after different Avengers I've met."

Shuri's expression softens, while Peter appears impressed as ever. He's definitely loving how this day is playing out so far, even though there was that part when they nearly drowned, but whatever. That was nice, too, he supposes. 

"That's very cool, Bucky", Peter comments, face still turned toward the sheep out on the field. "Does Mr. Rogers know that your sheep is named after him?"

For a fleeting second, an expression of something that Peter can't quite place passes over Bucky's face, but it's gone before he knows it. Sad, reminiscing, regretful... Something along those lines. The man then gives a small smile. 

"No, he doesn't. I haven't talked to him in a while."

"Why?" Harley jumps in. "You could just call each other."

Bucky makes a confused grimace. The teens gasp and look between each other. 

"He doesn't have a phone!" Peter exclaims. "We have to fix this, asap!" 

Shuri grins at the boys, agreeing with this. Bucky, on the other hand, mainly just looks very confused. He's heard of phones before, used them even, but modern day technology is not the easiest to understand. 

"I'll fix a phone and computer for you", the girls informs, then pulls Harley's arm. "Come on, we've gotta go back to the palace. We'll do it right now. Peter, stay with Bucky."

The older man frowns, eyes on Shuri as she starts to walk away with the other teen, leaving the third one behind. He then glances to Peter, who looks way too happy to having been left alone with an ex-assassin that he barely knows. 

"Have you ever heard of vines?" the kid wonders and Bucky shakes his head uncertainly. "Memes?" Another shake of his head. "Oh, Mr. Bucky, you're gonna love this!"

 

Shuri and Harley bring both a phone and a computer, just as promised. They're intending to set up Wi-fi in Bucky's hut so that he'll be able to go online to see all the wonderful things there are to find there. Well, mainly to teach him about pop culture, but still. 

Bucky is obviously not going to be allowed to give out his real name, or say that he lives in Wakanda, but the kids don't believe that's gonna be a problem. He's not stupid. 

They're pretty quick to find everything they need before starting to make their way back, leaving Shuri's lab. As they exit through the palace entrance, they catch sight of Tony and T'Challa walking a bit further into another hallway, looking up as they catch sight of the two teens passing. The Wakandan King frowns at them, and Tony's expression instantly turns into one of suspicion. 

They both know just how crazy ideas the teens are capable of coming up with. Now, they're not sure what to believe about the kids, as they disappear through the doors, Harley with a computer in his arms and Shuri carrying some dark bag where T'Challa knows that she often stores a bunch of different tech-things. 

For the moment, the adults choose to ignore it, simply because it's easier. Even though Shuri is in an outfit much unlike what she usually wears and it makes no sense that they're bringing technological devices outside, it doesn't seem like they're causing too much trouble. 

The two teens talk as they make their way back to Bucky's hut down by the lake. It doesn't take them very long to get there. 

Walking down toward the huts, their eyes turned to the sheep out on the field, they spot Bucky sitting next to Peter on a bench right outside the older man's hut. They both have their faces turned to something on Peter's lap, and it's apparently very entertaining, as the two of them laugh at it. 

When Harley and Shuri get closer to the other pair, they recognize that it's Peter's phone the boy is using to show Bucky... whatever funny thing they're looking at. 

Shuri brings her bag into the hut to set up everything needed for Bucky to have wi-fi inside, while Harley heads over to the laughing couple. 

He looks over Peter's shoulder and sees that it's a vine compilation that they're so loudly enjoying. Peter and Bucky only glance up briefly as he approaches them, then promptly turn back to watching it. 

Harley leans against the wall behind them, still carrying the new computer as he joins the others in watching the video. 

It takes Shuri exactly six minutes to set everything up, before stepping outside with a proud grin. Peter presses pause on his screen and then lowers it, making all of them turn to the girl. 

"I've fixed wi-fi, and set up your phone, so it's all ready to use", she informs them. Then, the Princess turns to Harley. "You can get the computer ready, connect it to the wi-fi and all that, while I show Bucky how to use his phone."

She walks up to the pair on the bench and tells Peter to scoot over. Bucky watches with interest as she takes up a phone, unlocks it and then begins to tell him about a bunch of different functions. Peter contributes with a bit of information to her explanation, all the while Harley gets to work on getting the computer ready for use.

They spend about an hour doing this. Well, not exactly, since Harley gets finished before that, but after he's done with his things he just joins the other three outside. After a while, they move inside and teach Bucky about the computer, too. By the time they're done, the sun has started to set, it being pretty late at night. They can't believe they have only been in Wakanda half a day. 

Finally, their job has been completed. The three teenagers turn to the older man, waiting for him to say something. 

His eyes are fixed on the wall in front of them, a thoughtful expression on his face. Then, he grins and turns to look at the teens. 

"Does this mean I can text Sam pictures of doves and tell him that I'm having lunch with his family?" Bucky wonders, a mischievous grin on his face. 

"Once you have his number; yeah", Peter replies, seemingly very pleased with Bucky's plans for the future. Harley rolls his eyes at it but definitely thinks it's way funnier than he shows. 

After that, it's only logical for them to expect amusing messages from the ex-assassin. They've only spent a few hours together (well, besides Shuri having met him before), but have already taken a liking to the man. It seems he doesn't despise them, either. 

Peter thinks briefly about fighting him in Germany, which feels like yesterday while also being ages ago, but Peter has never been one to hold a grudge. It's not like he was particularly involved in everything about that fight, either. He never hater Bucky, or Captain America, or any of the other Avengers that he was told had gone rogue. 

In fact, he could sympathize pretty well with both sides once he found out what it had really been about. Mistakes were made on both parts. He could recognize that. 

That's why it's such a good thing that the new Accords are so close to getting finished... Maybe there are only a few weeks left until the rogue Avengers can come back. Hopefully. After all, that is the reason that Tony brought the kids here in the first place, so that he and T'Challa could work on the terms for that. 

And speaking of Tony... the teens look up, and see two approaching figures outside the little building, walking together, seemingly heading here. Tony doesn't know about Bucky, and he's probably not as forgiving as Peter on the matter. 

The kids understand pretty fast that it's Tony and T'Challa, so they step out of the hut to go welcome them. 

"Kids", Tony greets with a nod, then he glances at T'Challa. 

"You may know that we have been perfecting the new Accords for everyone's liking", the King speaks. "And we are very close to the finishing line by now."

"Which is why we're staying here maybe two or three more days, because by then, we'll have finished everything and can just send them in for some officials to look at."

The teens look at each other excitedly, and back toward Bucky, hidden inside his hut. Three more days is a great thing! So much more time to educate the old man about memes and vine culture. Awesome!

Tony looks at the simple buildings behind the kids, but doesn't say anything about it. He can't possibly know that the brainwashed ex-assassing Bucky Barnes is residing right there. The secret fugitive is just that: A secret. 

He probably wouldn't agree with the decision to let the man stay here. But, in line with the teenagers' often used and actually pretty accurate life-motto:

Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tadaa, i finally updated again! next chapter marks the beginning of the real multiple chapter plot that i've been mentioning for a while, and hopefully it won't take me as long to upload as this chapter :))


	17. In which space is a little too big

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> look at the chapter title. look at the character tags. i think you know who they're meeting in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> today i accidentally airdropped a video of me dancing to my crush when i was trying to send it to my teacher.. i thought this shit only happened in movies
> 
> (yes, he actually received n saved the video)
> 
> (he had already seen the dance tho, since i performed it in front of my whole class)

Shuri leads the boys onto the Wakandan ship with a bouncing energy in her steps, them following behind her with confused but just as excited expressions. 

"I have been working on this tech for an eternity", the girl tells them, stopping inside the ship to proudly show off her work. "Ever since we met that strange doctor, whatever his name was."

"Strange", Harley supplies.

"Yes, it was very strange." 

"No, I mean, his name was Strange", Harley clarifies.

"But that was less than two weeks ago", Peter comments, thinking about how she said she's been working for an eternity.

"Well, yeah, I might have over exaggerated a little bit", Shuri replies.

All three of them then turn to look at whatever it is she's showing them. In the midst of the one room of the ship, placed on the floor, is a circle made out of some sort of metal. It looks as if you could straighten it out and pick it apart if you wanted to, seeming like the circle is made out of different pieces that have been put together. 

The boys step closer to observe it with curiosity, but remember not to touch it. Based on personal experience, they know that that's not the best thing to do, especially not when it comes to things one of them has invented. 

Then, they turn to Shuri, waiting for her to inform them of what it does. She's already said that she started working on it after meeting Dr. Strange, but they're not sure if this invention is at all related to that event in any other way. 

"So..." Peter begins. "What does it do, exactly?"

Shuri grins and starts explaining with the kind of passion that you only find in a true science geek. 

"So", she repeats. "This is meant to imitate what that doctor could do with portals and such, by using different reactors, and a little bit based on theory about electromagnetic radiation..."

The girl trails off, her gaze fixed on the object between them. Her explanation has caught all their attention fully, both boys very interested in whether it works or not, and also how. 

Well, as all scientists know, there's only one way to find out if your hypothesis is correct. You test it. 

Shuri picks it up and fiddles a little bit with some of the edges, fixing their places a slight bit before pressing down on some button that blends in perfectly with the rest of it. They all keep their distance as she puts it back on the floor again. 

"I'm having that weird feeling like when you're reading a book, and the characters do something stupid, and you can just feel in your bones that it's about to end bad. It's a weird feeling", Peter says. 

"I think what you're experiencing is called common sense", Shuri suggests, grinning at the boy. 

"Yeah, seconded", Harley agrees. "You're probably just not used to it."

The unnamed, circular invention makes a weird slurping sound, alarming the teens a bit. 

"Should it... Should it be making that sound?" Harley asks, his voice laced with worry. The other two cast a quick glance at him each, their expressions matching his tone pretty well. 

When Shuri doesn't answer him, they all realize that maybe initiating the testing of an invention that's meant to teleport you to some unknown place, and without supervision, probably isn't the best idea they've ever had. 

Being the kids that they are, all three manage to cast their worries aside and bend down over the invention on the floor of the Wakandan ship. 

It's glowing around the edges, a mix of blue and orange light that reflects on the places where the metal is more smooth. 

Shuri holds her arm out to grab it, but right at that moment, the circle pops and grows a little larger, forcing her to pull her hand back in fear that it'll somehow affect her to touch it now. The metal is glowing, definitely hot to the touch. 

They all stand up again and take a few steps back, watching as the now slightly bigger circle vibrates on the ground, making sounds not too unlike the ones of an engine starting. It smells of smoke in the space of the ship, but there's no grey air coming out of the thing they're all looking it. 

One might expect people faced with this strange invention to be cautious or feel scared, but the teens only look on with rising interest as the movements of the thing goes from vibrations to violent shakes, throwing itself from side to side. 

Then the circle erupts into a huge hole, and through it, they see a dark pattern resembling the night sky a bit too much for their comfort and liking. 

Suddenly, it's as if the whole ship (with them in it) is sucked into the homemade portal, and immediately, all of their visions fade to black. 

 

Harley opens his eyes. He's met with a relatively dark room, the only visible light coming from what appears to be a door that hasn't been closed properly. 

The boy sits up and rubs at his back, feeling tense from having... slept (?), on the floor. Frankly, he has no recollection of what has happened. 

Not until he glances up at the ceiling right in front of the only door of the room and spots Peter clinging to it, visible in the small stream of light coming from right outside. The younger teen makes a shushing gesture toward his older friend before he starts climbing carefully toward the door on the metallic-looking walls. 

Harley springs to his feet, eyes wide, now with all of his memories back, clear as day. They fell through Shuri's portal, and the ship did, too...

Speaking of Shuri. 

He turns around and sees the girl standing in the darkness to the side of the door, clearly encouraging Peter to take the risk of going out there. Wherever there is. It appears they're still on a ship, but this does not resemble the Wakandan one they were in when they disappeared. Not much of it is alike at all. 

None of them have any idea on how they went from one spaceship to another, though, or who could possibly have found them in space so randomly. 

"Shuri", Harley whispers, his voice blending in with the distant buzzing of what's probably the engine of this ship. He catches the girl's attention and she turns her face to him. "Where are we?"

The Princess shrugs. 

"My portal took us to space", she whispers back. "But this is not our ship. Someone must have found us and taken us from there to here."

Harley considers this for a few seconds, during which they both turn back to watch Peter disappear across the ceiling toward wherever he's headed. Considering his hearing can pick up on a lot more things than others can, they trust him to find the right direction if they want to get to know the people that manage this ship. 

Well, this isn't exactly how any of them imagined the quick trip to Wakanda to go like... This is way more interesting!

Peter climbs forward silently, looking around at the unfamiliar ship. He looks to the front and sees that there's a room leading out from the space he's in right now, where there are some smaller corridors going off in different directions. The room he's facing has glass on the wall opposite him, and he realizes that that's the front window. Some chairs with their backs turned to him are on the floor, which has steps leading down in front of the window, chairs where you're meant to sit when you're steering. 

Heads stick up over the backs of the chairs. Peter still hasn't felt anything from his spider-sense, but that doesn't necessarily mean these people are good. 

On the other hand: If they are good, it's not the kindest to sneak up on them from behind while they're just trying to steer the spaceship to wherever. 

The boy decides that announcing his presence is the best he can do. Even if these people are bad, the teens are stuck on their ship in space and have no way of getting home without acknowledging the others that are here. Might as well do it now. 

He lowers himself slowly from ceiling to floor, crouching down and observing for a few more seconds. There aren't any lights turned on in here, so the light that was streaming into the room where he woke up has to be coming from the lamp on the ceiling behind him, not from where these other people are. 

There's a low conversation going on between the people. Mostly, they just seem to be chilling, driving, and watching space pass by around them. 

Peter stands up properly and clears his throat. 

A green figure with long, black hair turns around and is on her feet immediately, probably not having been thinking about the strays they picked up at some point during their journey through the galaxy. She has no weapons on her, but the look she gives him is intimidating enough. 

As soon as she sees who it is, though, she relaxes her stance a little. Not completely, considering she still doesn't know him, but enough not to freak Peter out. 

"Uh, h-hi, mysterious people that I don't know", Peter greets in a small voice. Another woman, this one with two antennas, is turned to him and watches with curiosity. She doesn't seem very scary, in all honesty, and Peter would even dare to look at her for more than one second. 

"Hello, child", the green-skinned woman responds. Her tone isn't unfriendly, but it's also not the friendliest. Slightly wary. "Who are you? And where are your friends?"

"Well", Peter begins. He spots a living tree and a raccoon both shooting him some discreet glances from their own respective seats, but shakes it off relatively quickly. "Me and my friends fell through some portal and ended up in space, but we don't really remember much else... They're still in the room, by the way. And I'm Peter."

A man turns his chair around up in the front and looks back at the talking pair with raised eyebrows. He looks much more human than the others on this ship, and Peter is a bit comforted by the presence of someone that's not entirely new. 

"Your name is Peter?" the man asks, and the boy nods. "Mine too!"

"What, really?" young Peter asks, suddenly impressed with this. "Wait, are you from Earth, too?"

"You're from Earth?!"

"Yeah!"

Peter stops himself from saying anything more in his excitement, thinking about how lost he really is. At least he has decided that this group is not a danger. They might even be friendly, if you get to know them well enough. He squints. 

"Uh, about that", the teenager speaks again. "We kinda have to get back to our home. There are some people that will probably be pretty mad that we just disappeared."

"I'm sorry, but we can't drop you off at Earth right now" Gamora says, her expression seeming genuinely sorry for him. "Our team has to finish this mission before we can do anything else. Going all the way to your planet would take too long."

"Yeah, but we have a spare room with some bunks that you could borrow", Quill suggests. 

"Peter, we're letting them stay here until we can bring them home, we're not adopting them forever."

"I know that", Quill says defensively. "But just, y'know, they might wanna sleep."

Peter, who's been glancing between the couple while they spoke, truly has no idea what to think or how to feel about this. Being offered their own bunks in a spaceship with people they haven't met before this day? Heck yeah! 

But there's a slightly unsettling feeling in his quickly sinking stomach as he thinks about how Tony and T'Challa are probably waiting for them down on Earth right now. Maybe they're out looking for the teens, and they aren't even on the planet. It makes him feel bad, even though he logically knows that there's no other way to get home, seeing as they don't have the Wakandan ship..

"Oh, by the way, what happened to the ship we were in earlier?" Peter asks. Gamora looks back at him. 

"It was about to explode. It showed up on our radar, so we went in and got you out before that could happen."

Peter doesn't respond, only nods thoughtfully. He then thinks that it's probably for the best to alert Harley and Shuri of these new developments, so he tells the ships inhabitants where he's going and then hurries off to tell them. 

Boy, are they in for an adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a while since i wrote on this story and i don't have many parts after this planned out. but as always, hope you like it :)


	18. In which parental figures are a plural

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alternatively: in which four different people are told that the teens are in space and those people obviously have to help get them back. "no, thor, i've clearly had enough of them for a lifetime". "no, wong, I don't care about these crazy teens". (maybe only a little)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo... another update. FINALLY.  
> i guess i've just had a lot of stress and anxiety (mostly about school) and i can't say i'm gonna get better at updating, but i can promise to not give up on this story. i actually woke up at five this morning and remembered that i hadn't updated in a really long time and then i couldn't stop thinking about this fic, which lead to me not going back to sleep, which means i've been really tired all day :) that's my excuse for any potential error in this chapter.  
> the point of this note was to let you know that i won't discontinue this story, no matter how long time passes between updates

Bucky glances at the clock on the screen of his new phone once more, furrowing his brows. It has been over an hour since the teens said they'd be here, something they promised him yesterday. 

He sighs and gets up from the chair where he's been waiting, stretching out his tense back. Maybe they just lost track of time? It wouldn't be unlike them. He doesn't think they would consciously bail on him like this, not that he knows them all that well. Still, they don't come off as those kind of people. 

To be honest, he's more worried that they've accidentally gotten themselves blown up in the lab than that they're ignoring him. Maybe he should check in with someone..

Bucky picks up the phone on his desk, the one that Shuri fixed for him. He shows a fond smile as he thinks back on yesterday, when they introduced him to what the Internet is and all you can do with this little device. 

They added their own numbers to his contact list while they were at it, as well as T'Challa's, even though the King doesn't know that his secret fugitive possesses an actual phone. It was only so that he could use it if necessary, but Bucky considers that this probably counts as it. He can't just waltz into the palace, especially since Tony Stark is currently there. Bucky has already called each teen three times today. 

So, with that justification in mind, he presses the call button by T'Challa's name on his screen before lifting the phone to his ear. 

It takes one signal before the man answers. 

"Who is this?" the voice of the King speaks. 

"Bucky", Bucky replies. "Uh, I was just wondering about the teens.."

He trails off, not sure how to say what he wants to say without sounding like a stalking creep that manipulates teenagers into giving him expensive technology. 

"They're missing", the other voice says bluntly. "And so is one of the Wakandan ships. We can't trace Shuri's or Peter's phone, and Harley's is still here. We're guessing they've gone to space."

Bucky is a little surprised that the man doesn't even react to the fact that his hidden refugee now owns a phone, or that he has his number. With Shuri as his younger sister, that's probably not too shocking. The King has to have believed that it would happen sooner or later. 

It then hits him that the King just told him that the little shits are in space. 

"They're _where_..!?"

 

Tony Stark feels like he has paced the same floor over and over again a million times by now. His hair is gonna be turned grey within two months if those kids continue giving him stress like this. Every time he thinks he's gotten used to their shenanigans, they go and prove him wrong by causing a bigger mess than ever before. 

This time, it's space. That just had to be it, didn't it? Earth grew tired of dealing with their shit so now they've gone intergalactic. Awesome. Just perfect.. 

He vaguely remembers that time Shuri and Harley were watching a movie about space and discussing how they could get there on their own. Maybe he should have been a bit stricter when he discouraged that idea.

His thoughts are interrupted by the ringing of a phone coming from his desk, and Tony stops his pacing. It's not his own phone, but the one that Harley left behind when they disappeared. 

Deciding whether or not to answer takes him only half a second. 

"Tony Stark", the man says, picking up the device. 

"Is this not Harley Keener's number?" an unfamiliar voice speaks. Tony takes little time to consider why this stranger is calling Harley, while his mind moves on quickly to answer. 

"Yeah it is, he left his phone. Who are you?" 

"Well, my name is Dr. Stephen Strange. I was just calling to thank the teenagers." 

"For what? How do you even know them?" 

"They showed up at a superhero convention last week, and unknowingly distracted everyone from me as I caught a mystical creature that was trespassing on Earth." 

"Oh, that's cool. I'll them them when I find them." 

"Are they gone? Where are you?" 

"Yeah. I'm in Wakanda. They disappeared along with a Wakandan ship a few hours ago, and we've concluded that they're probably in space." 

The line is quiet for a few seconds. Tony briefly considers hanging up, until the other man speaks again. 

"Oh yeah", Strange says, making Tony question his sanity. Who responds with 'oh yeah' when they're told that a couple teenagers have managed to get themselves to space, of all places? "They're not in this realm, though. And, oh, my apologies. It seems their ship has exploded."

" _WHAT?!_ " 

Tony doesn't manage to stop his own shout, but that doesn't bother him, because he was just randomly told from a total stranger over the phone that his kids' ship exploded. 

"Not to worry, though, they were picked up by someone before that."

"Maybe you should have started with that part, dipshit", Tony growls, immediately loosing a little of his non-existent trust in this person. "And how do you know this, if I may ask?"

It goes quiet again. Then, 

"Oh, screw it, I'm coming over."

 

Tony has only had time to pace all across the floor five more times when the phone rings again. Immediately getting annoyed, Tony walks closer to it, thinking it's that strange doctor. 

He's a little surprised, however, to see the caller be listed as Mr. Duckhead. Purely out of curiosity, the man picks up the phone again. 

"Harley!" a voice says, and Tony recognizes it. He has to think a few seconds before connecting the voice to a name, but then realization hits him. Before he has time to voice that thought out loud, though, the man on the other end continues. "I've been trying to reach all three of you for like half an hour."

"Clint", Tony says, his voice a little strained. "This is Tony Stark. I have Harley's phone."

"Ohmygosh, yes!" the archer exclaims happily. It seems then as if he turns away from his phone, because Clint's voice is louder but clearly turned away from the speaker as he shouts, "I told you so, Scott, Tony is their sort-of-but-not-really-dad! You owe me twenty bucks!"

Tony frowns at this. Clint and Scott are the only two of the rogue Avengers that are pardoned and that's solely because they took full responsibility for it immediately, so it's fine for them to be out, having a life. He's still surprised to hear that the teens know of them, though. Tony thought it would take longer for the other Avengers to come back into his life. 

He has to admit, this is an unexpected turn of events. 

"Clint, what the hell?" Tony sighs in exasperation. "Just... why are you calling them so much? How do you even have their numbers?" 

"Doesn't matter. Tell you later. Where are they?" 

Tony decides to be completely blunt with him. 

"In space." 

"They're in.. Wait, what? WHAT THE FUU-?!" 

 

Clint Barton crosses his arms and undeniably pouts as he leans against the table in the room. It's long and goes through the entire middle of the space, looking exactly like you would imagine a conference room to look like. Since this actually is a conference room, that's definitely not surprising. 

At no point in his life did he ever think he would be standing in the Wakandan palace after having been brought there through a portal by a magic wizard ("I've told you, I'm not a wizard, it's Sorcerer Supreme"). And that Tony is the one who told him to do so is even more surprising. 

After Clint was done screaming and cussing through the phone, Tony had sighed. Then, the man told the archer to find someone named Dr. Strange and ask to tag along when he went to Wakanda. 

It hadn't been very hard. All Clint had to do was go out into some alleys of New York and scream "Dr. Strange" (occasionally calling him Wizard doctor, World's Strangest man, and other variations) until some glowing circle opened under his feet and he was yeeted into the sanctum (yeah, that's right, Clint Barton keeps up with the culture). 

He wasn't all that phased by it. After aliens and robots, magic didn't come as that big of a shock to him. It was mostly just a pretty cool thing to add to his list of experiences. 

On the other hand, what truly phased him was seeing a murderer, who also happened to be the man that once mind-controlled him, stood in the Sanctum right next to who Clint immediately recognized as the doctor. 

The doctor didn't look all too pleased with the presence of the Trickster God, either, which honestly made Clint trust him just a tiny bit more. Doctor Strange, that is. Not Loki. Never that he would ever trust Loki. 

Clint's instincts got the better of him as he ran at Loki, intending to attack the insane man, but instead ran straight through a portal that took him to Wakanda. The doctor stepped through behind him, and informed the archer that Loki had found out through some dude named Heimdall that the teens had left Earth and was now here to help get them back. 

Barton had absolutely no idea that the teens knew that mind-controller, but thought of them when he agreed not to attack Loki again. For now, at least. 

He has now resigned to simply pouting in the corner of the room to express his mood. 

Around him, there's quite a lot of commotion. People are talking, making plans, exchanging information. T'Challa is standing by one of the short sides of the table, and Tony is pacing across the floor opposite him. 

Strange has his hands crossed behind his back where he stands next to the King, looking like everyone here is beneath him and always giving as short replies as possible. 

Loki sits calmly on a chair by the middle of the table, looking at his nails as if this is the most bored he's ever been. Clint occasionally sends him hateful glances, but to his annoyance, they all go unnoticed by the God. Or maybe it's just that he ignores them all, because so far, he hasn't as much as looked at Clint. 

The archer doesn't know what it could possibly be, but the Kind appears to be waiting for something. Clint is sure that the others don't know of it. He, on the other hand, is a trained spy, and anyone could figure out that he's expecting someone else to arrive, as T'Challa looks at the door maybe one time every minute. 

Clint doesn't say anything about it, though. He's too busy staring down the completely unbothered God. 

T'Challa is interrupted in the middle of a sentence about sending up other ships to look for the teens, when the door opens. A man stands in the doorframe, his dark hair gathered at the back of his head in a man bun. His clothing makes him look like a Wakandan farmer, but other than the outfit, he doesn't look much like a local. 

Everyone's eyes turn to the new arrival, and Tony stops his pacing in the middle of a step just to stare at the man with an unreadable expression. 

He then turns slowly to T'Challa, meeting his eyes without changing his own expression a bit. Clint picks up on his lip twitching, but the movement is small, and he doubts any of the others really pay it any mind. 

"You have hidden James Barnes _here_ , in Wakanda?" Tony asks, his voice strained. 

The King straightens his back and draws a deep breath, his head held high, and then gives a single nod, never one to be dishonest. 

"We have been rehabilitating him here for a while now. He's been living a simple and isolated life on the country."

Clint thinks that it's good of the King to tell the truth now, when confronted with the information, even though he probably should have told Tony before the man that killed his parents showed up here. 

Everyone probably expects an explosion, Bucky more than anyone. The man glances warily between Tony and T'Challa, just waiting for the former to turn around to him again. Honestly, negative reactions are the only scenarios going through Bucky's head at the moment. 

Tony turns slowly to the ex-assassin, looking at him without meeting his eyes. That wouldn't have been possibly, anyway, as Bucky has his eyes fixed on the ground. 

"I..." Tony begins, then swallows and looks away. "I have had time. Time to consider.. this, whatever it is going on between you and me. And I think, I think..."

He trails off, not exactly sure how to voice his thoughts. Bucky finally looks up at him, expectancy in his eyes. 

"I don't think I blame you for it as much", Tony finally says. 

Even Loki and Dr. Strange look at him with surprise etched onto their faces. In a positive way, of course, seeing as everyone had expected an explosion and instead gotten this calm exchange. 

It's as pleasant as it's gonna get between Tony and Bucky, for now, but at least it appears they have settled for acceptance. Maybe not liking each other, but accepting that the past is behind them, and maybe none of them should be at blame for what happened. 

Those are not gonna be the final words on the subject, but Tony lets Bucky join them in coming up with plans to save the teens. 

And maybe that common ground the only thing they really need to get along right now. The missing puzzle piece, so to speak: 

Three stupid teenagers lost in space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the only way to explain that weirdly casual exchange between tony n strange is by saying that this is a normal situation for both, and neither consider that it might not be normal to other people. also, i am convinced that if clint barton wrote a book, he would add parentheses after every sentence with his own commentary.


	19. In which teens have a great time in space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's all bonding time, no plot, and i have no regrets :))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here I am, resurfacing after three months as if nothing's happened... (*surprised shouts of "she's alive!" can be heard in the distance*)  
> i'm not gonna explain where i've been because it will sound like i'm making excuses, which i don't wanna do, but i'll just say i'm not done with everything i'm going through and that updates will still be wildly inconsistent :)

The Guardians have told the teens that it's been twelve hours since they found them on that Wakandan ship, meaning that the time in Wakanda should now be around two in the morning, considering the teens went into the ship at two in the afternoon.

Time doesn't seem to exist in space, though, as there's no sun to tell what's daytime and what's nighttime, and so the teens decide that they're not tired and are gonna stay up until their eyes can't take it anymore.

There's an autopilot for the ship, but Peter (Quill) and Rocket (the raccoon) are still sitting over by the front glass window, steering it. On one of the chairs behind them sits the tree, which the teens have found out is named Groot. He hasn't said anything yet, though. Only given the teenagers a somewhat interested glance, but nothing more. He has some videogame that he plays on a lot, something they're all pretty curious about.

The teens are sitting on the floor a bit behind them, speaking in low voices so as to not be overheard by the other people on the ship. Not that they don't like the ship's inhabitants, but they're just not comfortable enough with them yet to want them to hear their casual conversations. 

Casual conversations on the floor of a ship floating in space with no plan on how to get home, sure, but still a casual conversation. 

"Mr. Stark must be soo mad right now", Peter comments, a slight grin visible on his face in the low lightning. The ship's engine hums beneath them, audible in the quietness of the ship, nothing but a calm rumble in the background. 

"We should probably try and do something to get back quicker", Harley says in a low voice. His gaze is turned to the floor, not entirely conscious of the present. 

"Well, we could always take out these Guardian-people and steal their ship", Shuri suggest with a smile on her lips. 

"Yeah", Peter agrees jokingly. "I'm willing to be the distraction while you two do that."

"Self-sacrificial", Harley mutters. 

"Hey! When have I ever done anything stupid and self-sacrificial?" Peter exclaims, a tiny bit offended by his friend's implications. 

"I keep count", Shuri replies. "So far, you've done fourteen things..."

"That must've been ages ago!"

"-in the last two days."

Peter makes a face to express his thoughts about that. The others try to keep their laughing as quiet as possible in an attempt not to disturb the others on the ship. 

No more than five minutes later, the teens are bored out of their minds. Peter has been climbing up and down one of the walls several times, and Shuri is absent-mindedly picking at different parts of the mechanics that are accessible from where she's sitting, but without being able to do anything with them since she's not allowed to by the ship owners. She and Peter are still talking so much that Harley wants to put on earmuffs to keep the sound out, but they're not even that invested in the unending conversation. Harley's convinced that the only reason they're speaking is to annoy him. 

"Want to play I spy?" Peter asks from where he's situated himself on the ceiling. 

"I'll go first", Harley answers before Shuri even has time to open her mouth. "I spy two people who should be shutting the hell up, but aren't."

"Is it us?" Peter wonders. 

"Isn't it always us?" Shuri asks rhetorically, turning her head up to give Peter a meaningful look. Harley sighs and eyes the weapons that he hasn't missed next to the raccoon, but as soon as the raccoon notices him looking at them, he gets something defensive in his eyes and turns forward again, making it clear that Harley should not approach him. 

They're interrupted by a voice coming from the green woman, Gamora. 

"Peter!"

Her voice is loud and sudden in the previously calm atmosphere as she reaches for the steering... wheel-thingy, turning it sharply and causing the two unprepared teens to fall on the floor. Peter, with his sticky abilities, remains unaffected and simply observes in curiosity as they seem to be avoiding another ship that he can only barely make out through the large window up front. 

"You know our security system is down, stop playing around", Gamora reprimands him, before letting go of the steering thing to let Quill handle it again. She faces Rocket then. "And you should have done something."

"Why? It's so much more fun watching Quill get our ship destroyed so that I can say 'told you so' after", the raccoon smirks. 

"Wait, what do you mean your security system is down?" Peter interrupts loudly enough for them to hear him. Harley stares at him with wide eyes from his spot on the floor, clearly trying to convey something, but the younger isn't paying him any attention, so it goes unnoticed. 

Gamora looks back at him, not completely friendly, but not hostile either. 

"These idiots got us chased off another planet where we had just done a job to help them out, and our security went down during the chase. We haven't had time to fix it." 

"I..." Peter starts, before lifting his hand to scratch his head, which causes him to loose his grip and he falls to the floor with an 'ouch'. Shuri only barely has time to move out of the way for him. He sits up slowly, looking around at the curious faces of the so-called Guardians. He swallows nervously. "I could look at it, I mean, if no one else has time. If you want me to, that is."

Rocket scoffs. 

"Oh, yeah? And how much could a kid possibly know about mechanics? Sorry, but no thanks."

For the first time since they started talking, Groot turns his face away from his game and looks to the raccoon. Rocket listens to him before sighing. 

"I know that, Groot, but..." The tree speaks again. "Yeah, yeah, fine, whatever."

He turns toward the others with an unreadable expression. Gamora doesn't look like she has any objections to letting Peter look at what's wrong, and Quill only seems to have gotten a lot more interested in the teens than he was before. 

"I guess," Rocket begins, "we could let him look at least."

"Groot makes some compelling arguments", Shuri comments, nodding her agreement. Harley seems to share her opinion, humming from where he's sitting beside her. 

Gamora looks at them surprised. "You speak Groot?"

Peter knits his eyebrows together and looks at the other two, seeing the same confusion reflected on both of their faces. He then turns to the woman. 

"No?" His answer sounds more like a question, so he clears his throat and continues. "I mean, I don't really get what you mean by that, Ms. Gamora. That sounded like English to me."

Now, the teens have certainly made the Guardians properly confused. They look between each other before facing the kids again. Quill is trying to keep focus on steering the ship while also paying enough attention to what's going on behind him so that he doesn't miss out, a mission that's proving to be quite complicated. He has to make a sharp turn to avoid some space-stone that floats past, before making the decision to ignore the conversation as much as possible in order to not crash. 

"Well, it wasn't", Rocket grumbles, the one who appears to care the least about the new piece of information. "And also, if you really wanted to help, it's in another room."

The raccoon is up on his feet and ready to lead the way before he notices Harley's continued stare toward the weapons that Rocket has been keeping next to him, so he snatches them up, not trusting the weapons to stay anywhere near the oldest teen. Harley pouts slightly when he does, but Rocket is unaffected. He straps the gun across his back and starts walking toward the back of the ship, and Peter is quick to jump to his feet and follow him there. Shuri shows him a grin and a thumbs up before he's gone, disappearing behind another doorframe. 

Gamora is still eyeing the remaining strangers from her spot near Groot and Quill, but she doesn't say anything else about what's on her mind.

They sit in silence for a few more minutes, the atmosphere a bit calmer now that one third of the kids aren't here to bother everyone. Shuri also isn't talking as much as before, but it is widely known that she and Peter have a tendency to hype each other up, causing ten times the noice when together than when they're apart. 

Then, Rocket returns. As he enters the room, he mutters something about Drax and Mantis taking over the supervision of the "little shit that apparently can't shut up". His description makes Harley snort. Rocket turns to the boy briefly, and for the first time, annoyance isn't the only thing visible on his face, being mixed with something that almost resembles appreciation. But surely, that's can't be it. Right?

By now, Groot has returned to the game in front of him, eyes glued to the screen and completely ignoring his surroundings. Rocket starts walking back toward the seat next to the tree, but stops as Harley clears his throat from right next to him to glance down at the sitting boy. Harley scratches his neck. 

"I, uh, have an idea for a type of stabilizer that I think could, like, make it fire faster", Harley says, avoiding eye contact with the raccoon while gesturing toward the weapon on the other's back. He speaks rather fast, as if worried that he'll lose the attention from the Guardian if he takes too long. 

"A... what?" Rocket asks. It's not because he doesn't understand, but because the comment from the boy has taken him by surprise. 

A few feet away, Shuri is grinning at the pair of them. The same expression is mirrored on the faces of Quill and Gamora, both of them clearly happy over the fact that Rocket hasn't rejected the kid yet. 

"A stabilizer", Harley repeats, finally looking at Rocket. "I kind of recognize the structure of it, and based off what I've seen, it could improve its speed when it comes to firing. Am I right?"

Rocket stays silent, and that is enough of an answer. Harley gives a small smile. 

"This ain't kindergarten, kid", Rocket finally grumbles, but even as he does so, his stance relaxes a bit. "I'm not gettin' paid for organizing kid activities, and I ain't playing around here. But..." he falls silent for a few seconds, eyes roaming over the small space of the room around them. "I guess you could, I mean, look and make some suggestions, or something."

If Rocket could see the radiant smile that overtakes Quill's face at this, he definitely would be punching him, but since the raccoon has his back turned to the front of the ship, he can't see it. That's probably for the best. 

Harley tries his best not to show any outward reaction to this response, but even though he manages to fight off all overdone expressions, his eyes still glow as he moves to stand up and follow Rocket out of there. Groot, who's been completely focused on his game up until now, sees that the raccoon is leaving and stands up as well, ready to follow him and the oldest teen to wherever they're going. 

For the second time this day, Rocket leads one of the teens away from the main room to avoid the eyes of all the others when letting Harley have a look at his weapon. As they walk, Harley turns back to give Shuri a thumbs up, excitement washing over his features now that the raccoon isn't looking at him. She simply grins in return. 

They don't leave through the same door as he left with Peter a little earlier, meaning that the three of them truly are split up inside the ship now. Despite the fact that it sounds like the older two are having a bit more fun than her, Shuri still finds herself a lot more pleased with the fact that she's stuck in space now than she was upon first waking up here. Peter is with Drax and Mantis, Harley is with Rocket and Groot. Maybe their time here isn't that horrible. 

Shuri's toying with a bit of technology that she found lying on the floor, a piece of metal with some buttons, a piece that only appears to be half-finished. Gamora and Quill are talking in hushed voices over by the steering thingy. Shuri gets a feeling of calmness as she looks out through the large windows, seeing space spreading out all around them. It's weird to think about how small everyone is compared to the universe, but strangely, the thought doesn't make her existence seem futile. It just gives a sense of possibility. 

Shuri stands up slowly, still looking out the window, before turning her eyes to the only people left in the room aside from herself. They're still talking and aren't noticing her movements. She takes a few steps forward, not like she's trying to sneak up on them, but just to get a better view of what it looks like outside. 

Deciding that she can't walk any closer without alerting them of it, she opens her mouth to speak. 

"Can I sit there?" she asks, her voice carrying easily through the otherwise silent room, disturbed only by the low hum of an engine somewhere beneath them and the soft voices of the adults. Her hand is gesturing to the seat next to Quill's up front, where she knows she'll be able to see better. 

Gamora is the only one who turns to see where Shuri is pointing, and after debating internally for a couple moments, she nods at the teen who immediately moves forward to settle in the seat. 

The view is a lot more magnificent up close. Stars, and maybe some distant planets, as well as all the colorful stuff that's always floating around in space make for a beautiful sight, and it doesn't take long before that's all she can focus on. Shuri doesn't even notice that Quill and Gamora are looking at her, both of them happily surprised to see the adoration on Shuri's face. It's a great contrast to how she was with Peter before, talking loudly with no hint of having the smallest piece of calmness anywhere in her body. 

Now, she is staying completely still, not even thinking about opening her mouth. Well, except for the fact that her lips are slightly parted as she stares with wide eyes at everything around them.

Quill glances at Gamora before deciding to address the teenager. 

"Uh, your name's Shuri, right? I think that's what the boys called you", he speaks, and it brings Shuri's attention back to the people in the ship. She nods at him. "Well, Shuri, I don't mean to interrupt your star-gazing, but maybe you'd like to steer the ship for a little while? I'll show you how."

Shuri's eyebrows shoot up at this, and she points at herself, wondering if he means what he just said. The man chuckles and nods his head. It takes Shuri a bit of time to compose herself enough to get out a loud "YES!", but when she finally does, it makes Quill laugh, and Gamora smiles at them. 

The green-skinned woman mostly keeps to the back after that, simply observing. There's no question in her mind that the kids they've come across have pure intentions and that they're worthy of being trusted, but as always, her first priority is to protect her team. Not that Gamora thinks they need to be protected from the teens. Maybe she had her doubts at first, but definitely not now. They're proving themselves to be lovable, and it makes Gamora a bit sad that they can't help the teens any more than they're already doing right now. She just hopes that the kids will have a good time until there's time to drop them off back on Earth. 

Seeing how fast Shuri is to learn how to steer the ship makes the woman want to spend a bit of time alone with the younger girl, maybe to teach her some fighting because Gamora's always secretly enjoyed teaching it to others, but she lets Quill have this bonding time. There will be more time later. 

With one last smile, Gamora heads toward the other rooms to check up on the two teens that headed off with the other Guardians. This day really isn't turning out the way she had expected it to this morning. 

It's a lot better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have this headcanon that people under the age of 18 (aka kids) can understand groot instinctively, and i'm not sure why but it makes a lot of sense to me so i'm using that for this fic which is why the teens understood groot
> 
> ALSO, THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS, THEY WERE REALLY INSPIRING WHEN WRITING THIS CHAPTER even tho it took me a long time to finish <33


	20. In which chaos continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i may only update every three months, but i'm way too stubborn to just give up on a story

Shuri lets out a yelp and jumps back, crashing into Harley who's standing right behind her, almost causing both of them to fall over. Peter, on the other hand, remains crouched down on the floor near where the small explosion just happened. He pulled his hand back just in time not to get scorched by the piece of space technology they've been experimenting on for the past hour or so, scarcely avoiding the loss of a limb.

He turns his head up to grin at the other two, but Shuri is the only one who reciprocates the gesture. Harley simply seems done with the both of them.

"You guys are idiots, you know that?" Harley comments. There's no shortage of annoyance in his voice or his facial expression when he says it.

"In our defense, we actually do know that", Peter replies, eyes glinting as he looks at the older. Harley groans and turns around.

Maybe the fact that they're working on four hours of sleep should be enough for the Guardians not to trust the kids with potentially dangerous science experiments in space, but they haven't known them long enough to be aware of just how much trouble they're capable of causing.

The small burst of fire that the last test caused, however, has caught most of their attention. They're pretty evenly divided between being concerned (Gamora, Quill, Mantis) and looking just as mischievous as the teens themselves (Rocket, Drax, Groot), intrigued by what else could happen if they allow the teens to continue with this.

It doesn't look like they're any closer to getting to Earth, but at least they have been told that the only thing left before they can set course for their home planet is to drop off some stuff at a cool planet where everyone has blue skin. The name of the place is hard to pronounce, so Peter's been calling it Pandora, which in Shuri's own words is because he's a nerd.

With all the glances they receive from the Guardians after the small incident that just happened, Gamora is the only one who speaks out about it.

"Peter, please put that away." Her tone isn't sharp, but enough to demand some sort of respect, and it makes Peter sigh before he slowly puts the weird metal down on the floor, pouting while doing so. As soon as she got over the initial shock of it, Shuri started laughing, and that's what she's still doing. Harley turns his back to them and looks to the front of the ship instead. He doesn't want to associate with such utter idiots, but sadly, he really likes these two idiots. At least he likes them enough to not smack them over the head right now.

"How long is it until we get to the other planet?" Harley asks, the question directed toward the adults of the group, as he does his best to ignore the youngest ones. Shuri is still attempting to recover from her laughter. She's not so successful.

"Not long", Quill responds, pressing some buttons that makes it look like he knows what he's doing over there as he guides them through space. "An hour, probably less."

"If you want some more rest, you could head back to bed", Gamora tells them with a gaze that makes it seem like she's reading their minds. Logically, they know that she's not (or, at least they don't _think_ she is), but her all-knowing stare could probably challenge Miss Potts'.

Despite the aura around the Guardians that makes it very clear that they're normally not so willing to accept guests on this ship, they still have a room where you can set up some mattresses in case there's a need for extra sleeping space. That's where the teens got to sleep for a few hours, after they finished yesterday's activities. Or, was it even yesterday? Time truly is confusing when you're constantly moving through different galaxies with different ways to measure time.

The teens glance between each other, trying to look like they're at least considering the suggestion, but they've all already decided that they're not gonna sleep. Not when there are so many cool things they could miss out on if they actually go to bed right now.

"Thanks, miss Gamora, but we're staying up", Peter tells her, and the green-skinned woman smiles at them before turning back around toward the front window. She honestly hadn't been expected any other answer, but it was worth asking, anyway.

Shuri holds a hand to her stomach, which hurst from laughing so much, but she's slowly regaining her normal breathing.

"So what do we do now?" she asks brightly.

"Ah, there is a chicken in my chest!" Peter exclaims. Shuri only gives him an amused look, while Harley sighs loudly. The spider-boy smiles sheepishly. "Isn't there an expression like that? There's a chicken in my chest. Isn't that an actual expression?"

"No, Peter, there is not", Harley says without facing them. "You just made it up."

The teens are so busy talking amongst each other that they don't see the two others that are standing behind them, waiting to be noticed. Not until Rocket clears his throat.

"Oh, hey, mister Rocket!" Peter greets, giving him and Groot a smile as he finally notices them standing there.

"Kids", Rocket says with a small nod of acknowledgment. He glances briefly at the tree next to him before continuing, this time in a lowered voice. "I know Gamora doesn't want you messing with any tech, but life is a lot more fun when you don't listen."

This even has Harley intrigued, as he turns slightly to better hear what's being said.

"So, do you wanna work on some updates for Quill's weapons?"

The kids have never been so quick to say yes to something.

***

"You said you wanted to help. This is your chance to do the right thing!" Tony exclaims.

"Oh, I truly adore those moments. It's always intriguing to observe what happens when I ignore them", Loki replies. He smirks as he speaks, but the rest of the people in the room only seem exasperated with the God.

"You came because you wanted to help us find the teens", Doctor Strange speaks up, interrupting the argument before it can start properly between Loki and Tony. He looks between the two men, silently begging them to stay quiet. "We should act now, before they have time to get themselves into any more trouble. The Wakandan King has a ship prepared for takeoff, but I doubt it can take us as far as we need to go. I stand by my suggestion that we should attempt to contact the ship they're currently on."

"Then why aren't we doing that?" Clint asks. Strange turns to him.

"We don't know how."

"Oh, great." Clint gives a short laugh. "Awesome suggestion, but maybe try suggesting something that would actually work next time, how about that?"

"Why don't you just open a portal to their ship?" a voice asks from the back of the room. They all turn to look at Bucky, where's he's sitting on top of a chest of drawers, not really taking part in the conversation until now.

Strange purses his lips, but Tony turns to the sorcerer with eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, actually", he says. "Why aren't you doing that? What was it you were again... The super sorcerer?"

"Sorcerer supreme", Strange corrects him, his voice laced with annoyance. "And considering how far away they are, I don't want to risk it."

"But you're not saying it's impossible", Clint says slowly, thinking. "Right? It's not impossible?"

Strange gives a minuscule nod to this.

"Great." The archer then turns to Tony with his idea. "Do you trust me?" 

"Sometimes. Mostly not."

"Well, this is probably one of the times you should."

If there was anyone else who had a suggestion, maybe Tony wouldn't have listened, but he didn't have any other options this time. And after all, Clint was a relatively smart guy.

So, Tony listened to his suggestion, just like everyone else in the room did. At the end, they decided to go through with it.

***

It's a good thing they decided earlier to put Groot on standby with a bucket of water next to them while they work, because as soon as Shuri connects the two wires, a flame rises from the electric metal and all four of them jump back.

Groot is quick to put the fire out, quick enough to save them all from a thorough lecture by either Gamora or Quill about how dangerous this is, and how they shouldn't have been playing around with these weapons in the first place.

As it is now, their only adult supervision is Rocket, and he doesn't exactly behave much like an adult. There's no lecture to worry about.

They look at each other, glad that they thought to prepare for that something like this would happen. Smoke rises from the floor, but at least they're past the dangerous part of it.

Right as they're about to speak up about the small incident, their attention is caught by something shimmering in the air right in front of them, above the weapon that lays abandoned on the floor in a puddle of water. The shimmering air quickly takes on a physical shape in the form of a piece of paper, simply hanging in the middle of the air. There seems to be writing on it, but with the way it's turned, they can't make out what it says.

Then, it stops shimmering and seems to stay floating for only another second before being taken by gravity. It's appearance is confusing to all of them, but considering what they go through on a daily basis, it doesn't even make the top five most shocking things that have happened today. 

Peter reaches out and grabs it before it can fall to the floor, looking around at the others before turning it up to read. Shuri and Harley move closer on either side of him to read over his shoulders.

Rocket and Groot simply wait for the teens to finish reading before asking what it's about. The room has fallen silent since the three loudest people are all busy with the strange letter.

"Uuh", Peter begins, looking up as soon as he's done scanning the paper and around at the people next to him. Rocket and Groot both seem eager to know what's going on, while Shuri and Harley only gulp, their expressions similar to the one on Peter's face.

"It's from Tony", Harley tells the two Guardians. "Or, apparently they've formed a whole freaking rescue squad back in Wakanda, but Tony wrote this and this dude named Strange teleported it here."

"So what'd it say?" Rocket asks.

Peter glances at his two friends before turning back to the raccoon.

"Well... Easy to say, I think we've made them worried."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see u in 3 months!
> 
> that's a joke (hopefully) so please don't kill me


End file.
